Corby LaCroix: Welcome to the Bible for Life podcast, where we are passionate about leading and equipping people in a growing relationship with Jesus. Today, Senior Pastor Ken Harrell shares with us four key things we must lock down as we read God's word. We're so glad you've joined us. And now with today's episode here's Pastor Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell:I want to welcome you today to our very first podcast entitled The Bible for Life. You may wonder why we've named it The Bible for Life, let me explain.

I want you to go back with me to March of 1975. I had come to Christ just two months prior to that, and in March, I'm in Wichita, Kansas, I'd been there all week long at a conference where there were a few thousand people and the speaker was just dealing with the principles from God's word.

It's a Thursday afternoon and I'm walking down the streets of Wichita by myself, I've got my Bible in my hand and all of a sudden God impressed upon me as a new Christian. It was as if God literally spoke to me, but I do know he impressed this upon me. It was that real. And God impressed upon me at that very moment that every issue in my life or anyone's life, God's word has the answer.

You see folks the Bible is not a book where we file facts in our head, the Bible was given to us by God to transform our lives. The way we live, the way we respond, the way we think and the way we act. And that's why I'm calling this podcast the Bible for life.

Now the topics will vary from time to time on this podcast but the format will always be the same. It will be from my heart to you, for my life to you. I'll be just sharing really what God has taught me over the years.

One desire that I have is to go through the 66 books of the Bible individually and just give an overview of each of those books. I'll give a podcast very soon about the basic fact, just basic facts about the Bible and an overall view of the Bible where I'll be talking about the major divisions in the Bible and things such as that.

At times the podcast... I'll be dealing with issues that we're going to face or we do face in our life, current events, questions, tough questions that were posed with. I'll be talking at times about doctrine and dealing on our podcast with doctrine, but on this very first podcast I want to talk about four key things and I'll give them to you in four key words that you've just... You got to lock down.

They are absolutely necessary if you're ever going to have confidence in God's word, it's as if if you were to put the Bible on a desk in front of you and say, "Do I have absolute confidence in this book?"

Well, I want to give you four things today, four key things. And I want to encourage you to remember these, lock them down because it'll make all the difference in whether or not you have confidence in God's word, because these are four words that are absolutely crucial. You've got to understand them.

The Four Key Words

1. Revelation

So let's get started. Here's the first word and the word is revelation. I'm not talking about the last book in the Bible, but the word revelation. Revelation is God giving his truth to mankind. It's the supernatural act of God whereby he communicates his truth to man which we otherwise would never know. So understand that revelation is communicating the truth of God to man, that's revelation.

Now there are three ways that God communicated his word to us. First of all he spoke it, that's oral communication. He illustrated it, visible communication, like nature and the mountains. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. And then in written form, he actually wrote his word.

You've got the Decalogue, the tablets of stone, the literal writings of God were with his finger. He etched in stone the 10 commandments.

So first of all revelation.

2. Inspiration

Now if revelation is God giving his truth to man then the second word is inspiration. And that is man receiving and recording that truth without error. The Bible that we absolutely hold dear to our heart has forever been a battleground. Our church here at Northwest Bible, we believe the scriptures are the infallible and errant inexhaustible word of God.

There is a verse in the Bible that is really a benchmark when it comes to inspiration. Paul was writing to Timothy and in second Timothy chapter three, verse 16, Paul said this to Timothy, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God."

Now the word inspiration, given by inspiration of God, it comes from the Greek word theopneustos. Aneustos which means breathed out, and Theos which means God. In other words all scriptures... Now understand that all scripture is breathed out by God.

In other words, he is the source. I don't care what book, what chapter, what verse, what word, it was all breathed out by God. He's the source. So when God first revealed his word to Moses in those first five books of the Bible or to Daniel or David or Paul or Peter, he breathed out his word so that those men, without losing their individual personality or their literary style, those men wrote precisely what God wanted them to write and in the order that God wanted them to write.

And the result is you and I have an inerrant text, Charles Ryrie in his paper on Inerrancy said this, and I quote... Talking about how the manuscripts were written and copied, that's back when they didn't have the Xerox machines or the copy machines or a computer or things such as that. Dr Ryrie said this, I quote, "To guard against any error slipping in, the one who was doing the copying carefully counted the number of letters and words on every page to be sure that every letter got in to the new copy. He also counted to the middle letter of each page and each book and then did the same on the new copy to double check the accuracy of the copy in order to assure folks."

In other words, what Dr. Ryrie was saying, in order to assure that accurate copying of God's word, that's what took place. In other words, we have a standard that we can trust folks.

There's another verse that helped me early on as a Christian to understand what inspiration really was. It's second Peter chapter one in verse number 21, where the Bible says for prophecy never came by the will of man, but Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy spirit.

In other words, Jeremiah didn't sit down one day and say, "Well I got a couple hours, I think I'll write the fourth chapter of my book." The apostle Paul, when he was on his way on the ship going to Macedonia, he didn't say, "Well, I got a lot of time on my hands, I think I'll go down below deck and write a couple of chapters."

It wasn't the act or the will of man, but God said that they were moved by the Holy spirit. And that word moved is crucial to the understanding of inspiration. It means that those men that wrote those books of the Bible, they were moved out of their own power apart from their own power. For instance, they were like a ship that's at sea but it doesn't have any sail.

That ship is just at the mercy of the ocean and the current and the waves. What Peter is saying is that men were moved out of their own power, out of their own ingenuity, and they put it down as God said it. And they did it without destroying their personality or their literary style.

So you got the first two words, revelation, that's God giving his truth to man. And then secondly you've got inspiration, and that is man recording, receiving and recording that truth and doing it without error.

3. Illumination

And that leads me to the third key word that you just... You got to nail down folks. And it's the word illumination.

Now the word illumination, we don't get all tight or we don't get all loose or you don't get a bunch of goosebumps. No, here's what illumination is. Illumination is the work of the Holy spirit that enables you and me to grasp the truth of God's word.

In other words, illumination is the teaching ministry of the Holy spirit. It has to do with us being able to understand. Now what does that mean? In John chapter 16 in verse 13, the Bible says, "However, when he the spirit of truth," that's the Holy spirit. When he the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.

In other words it's like this. You're reading a passage and you've read it scores of times, and all of a sudden you see something and you go, "I never knew that," or "But now I understand what God is saying." That's illumination.

It's like you're sitting in a service and the preaching is taking place, and all of a sudden the speaker, the preacher says something and a light comes on and you go, "I get it. I understand it."

That's the Holy spirit taking God's word and illuminating it, helping you to understand. A key passage when it comes to illumination is when Paul wrote to the Corinthians in First Corinthians chapter two, verses nine to 16, read that sometime. Let me just give you a quick paraphrase of that. What Paul is saying is that the spirit of God who knows the mind of God communicates it to human beings.

It's the spirit of God who knows the mind of God that's communicating that truth to you and me so that we understand it. So illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit, giving you and me an understanding of the Bible.

4. Application

And that brings me to the fourth word. Let me go back over these. Revelation, look at your Bible. Revelation is God revealing, giving his truth to mankind. Inspiration is man receiving and recording that truth without error.

Now we've got that Bible and we open it and we begin to read, and that brings about the third word and that's illumination. That's the Holy Spirit enabling you and me to understand what God is saying. But there is a fourth word and the unfortunate things is that most of the time Christians leave this out, and that word is application.

And that's the ability to apply the scriptures into our daily living. The Bible says a lot about this, James in his book, James says, "It's possible to grow old in the Lord and yet never to grow up in him." It's possible to be saved for 25 years and really you've just grown old in the Lord, you've never grown up. You can go through the Bible multiple times and have very little of the Bible go through you.

And my goal in this podcast, my goal when I preach is the practical application of God's word to give you handles that will impact your life.

That's why we call this podcast the Bible for Life. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians in First Corinthians chapter three, he's saying, "You've grown, you've grown older but you've not grown up." By this time Paul said, "Your senses should have been exercised to discern between good and evil." But in that third chapter it's really an indictment of the Church at Corinth. And here's what he says, just listen to these verses.

First Corinthians chapter three, verses one to three. He says, "And I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and that was solid food, for until now you are not able to receive it. And even now you're still not able, for you're still carnal. For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"

You know what the problem was? They were reading the Bible, they just weren't applying God's word. Don't miss what I'm about to say. God didn't give us his word to satisfy our idle curiosity. One of the problems back there at the Church at Corinth, some of the people were following Paul, some Appolus. Listen, you follow God's word.

Paul said, "You guys, the problem is you're carnal." God didn't give us his word to satisfy idle curiosity, he didn't give us his word so that we can just fill our minds with a lot of facts and be able to debate. God gives us his truth to change our lives.

The Story of Alexander Smith

Let me end by giving you a true account that illustrates how the Bible can not only change a life but it can change an entire lifestyle. You probably have heard or read about the mutiny on the Bounty, and yet few people understand that the Bible played a vital part.

The Bounty was a British ship, and in 1787 it set sail in the South Seas to the islands there in order to transplant food-bearing trees. Well after 10 months they arrived safely to destination and they were there for a period of months. And after six months they did what the government had sent them there to do. And the order came for them to embark and head back to London, the problem was the sailors rebelled.

Yeah, they really... They liked the native girls, they really liked the climate, and the result, there was mutiny on the Bounty. Captain Bligh and a few others were placed to drift in an open boat. Captain Bligh fortunately survived and he was rescued and taken to London where he told his story and the government sent an expedition to punish.

14 people were captured when they got there, 14 men, and they paid the penalty under British law. Now listen very carefully. Nine of the men had gone to a distant island and there they formed a colony that perhaps... There had never been a more degraded and debauched social life in human history.

They learned to distill whiskey from native plants and that whiskey and other habits led to their ruin. Disease had set in, people were murdering one another. In fact all of the native men and all but one of the other men that had come on the Bounty, they'd been killed, except for one man who had come in the Bounty, his name was Alexander Smith.

He found himself on an island surrounded by women and children. Alexander Smith found a Bible among the possessions of a dead sailor, it was a book that was new to him, he had never read it before. But Alexander Smith sat down and read it through and he believed it and he began to apply it.

He wanted others to share in the benefits of this book, and so he began to teach classes to the women and to the children.

It was 20 years before a ship found that island, and when it did what was discovered was a miniature utopia. People were living in decency, prosperity, harmony, peace. There wasn't any crime, no disease, no immorality, no insanity. How did this happen? By the reading, believing and applying the truth of God.

Conclusion

Folks our problem is not that we don't have truth, we're up to our shoulders in truth. Our problem is not applying the truth to our life. And as I close I want to say this, just as Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Bible He longs to be the central theme of your life. Every area of your life. Your social life, your family life, your work life, your private life, your public life. He wants to be the central theme of your life.

That's why I'm calling this The Bible for Life.

Corby LaCroix: Thanks again for listening. If you'd like to know more about Northwest Bible Church, visit us at nwbible.org. Until next time, remember for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for Life.

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Corby LaCroix:  Welcome to The Bible for Life Podcast, where we are passionate about leading and equipping people in a growing relationship with Jesus. In today's episode, Pastor Ken Harrell gives us an overview of the Bible, showing us how it's laid out so that we can get a better handle on how to understand and approach God's word. We're so glad you've joined us. And now with today's episode, here's Pastor Harrell.

Ken Harrell: I'm so glad that you're joining us for our second podcast. Harold Lindsell wrote a book entitled, The battle for the Bible. Let me quote what he said. "For anyone who professes the Christian faith, the root question is this, from where do I get my knowledge on which my faith is based? The answers to this question are varied, of course, but for the Christian at least, it always comes full circle back to the Bible. When all has been said and done, the only true and reliable and dependable source for Christianity lies in the book we call the Bible." That's why we're calling this podcast The Bible for Life.

The word Bible simply means book. So remember that the Bible is not a number of books. It's one book. You could say the Bible is this, it's an inspired record of God's mind in printed form. And what I want to do today is I want to give you an overview of God's word.

The Structure of the Bible

There are two testaments. There's the Old Testament and there's the New Testament. In each of those, each of the Old and the New Testament, there are four sections in each of those. So let me walk you through this and give you just a basic overview today of both the Old and the New Testament.

The Old Testament - Four Sections

The Law (First Section)The first section of the Old Testament are the first five books in the Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy. It's what we call the law or the legal section. It's called the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is simply the Greek word that means penta, which means five, and teuchos, which means scroll. Five scrolls. In the law are the writings of Moses, the first five books in the Bible and the time period, it takes you from creation to the first few centuries of the nation of the Jews. And it takes you up until the death of Moses. The Jews call this the Torah, which in Hebrew means law.

The Historical SectionThe next section or the next 12 books in the Old Testament, and it goes from Joshua all the way to Esther, that's what we call the historical section of the Bible. So you have the law, the first five books, then the historical section, the next 12 books. And in those 12 books, basically what you find is the history of the Jews, the history is traced.

The Poetical SectionAnd that leads to the third section in the Old Testament. And that's the poetical section, the narrative, poetry. It was written mostly by Job and David and Solomon. The books are Job and Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

The Prophetical SectionSo now you have one more section and that's the prophetical section that goes from the Book of Isaiah all the way to the end of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi. And in the prophetical section, what you find are a number of predictions that relate to Israel and a number of predictions that relate to the Messiah because Jesus had yet to come.

The writings of... First you find Isaiah and Jeremiah who wrote the Book of Jeremiah and also Lamentations. You got Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. It's what we call the major prophets. And then Hosea all the way to the last prophet, Malachi, it's what we call the minor prophets.

Why do we call them major prophets and minor prophets? We say that because of the size of the books, not the content. For instance, the Book of Jeremiah has 52 chapters. The Book of Nehemiah has three. Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Book of Haggai has two. But understand this, it's based on its size not the content. All books are major in their importance. All of those books in the prophetical section of the Old Testament are equally inspired.

So don't make the mistake of thinking the Book of Isaiah or Jeremiah is more important than the Book of Zachariah or Malachi. It's like if you have a red letter edition of the New Testament, by that, it means that when you see the red letters, that's Jesus speaking. And some people make the grave mistake of thinking well, those words are more important than the other words of the New Testament. Not so, it's just telling us and showing us what words Jesus all scriptures given by inspiration of God.

The End of the Old Testament

But before we move beyond the Old Testament, I want to talk just for a moment about the final word of the Old Testament, because it helps you to understand the feeling of the people who lived under the law. The last word in the Old Testament is found in Malachi chapter four, verse six. And the word is curse.

You see, when you come to the end of the Old Testament, they have no hope. There's no answer. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. Only a feeling of a curse. They had been lost and taken into Babylon, into the captivity. They found their way back to the land. Yes, they rebuilt the wall and the city and the temple, but it wasn't the glory that it was before. You see, they had come under the curse of the law and they needed help.

The Intertestamental Period

Now between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there's 400 years, it's what we call the intertestamental period, 400 years. But I don't want you to miss this. Don't think for a moment that during those 400 years, though there was a pause in the inspired record, there was no pause in divine activity because what was happening during the 400 years, God was casting a highway for both the coming of the Messiah and the spread of the gospel.

For instance, during that 400 year period, Greece rose to glory and Greece made the world begin to think about things like conscience, and the soul, and immortality. During that intertestamental period, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Septuagint, because the predominant language there in Israel at that time had become Greek. The Jews were scattered around the world in the diaspora.

And during this intertestamental period in the second and particularly first period B.C., Rome became a world power in the Middle East and the West. And if you've heard probably that phrase, all roads lead to Rome, well, Rome began a network of roads so that all roads did lead to Rome. But what they didn't realize is God, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. And those roads would be there to take the gospel all over the world.

And so during that 400 years where God was silent as far as speaking, divine activity was anything but silence. But 400 years after Malachi's ink dried, the New Testament began to be written.

The New Testament - Four Sections

There are four sections in the New Testament also.

The GospelsThe first section is what we call the gospels. That's Matthew to John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Think of the gospels like this, that each of those men... Think of like they had a camera and they're taking snapshots of Jesus Christ. Now, they don't cover everything. John, when he came to the end of the Gospel of John, John wrote these words and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

So the gospels don't tell us everything. They're just snapshots. They all have different viewpoints of the very same scene, but they see things differently. They saw the scenes differently. It's like if someone were to come on these 22 acres here at Northwest Bible and four people have a camera. And one takes a picture just coming into our entrance of this acreage. Another one would be on a telephone pole with a camera looking down. One would be over to the West of our property. And the other one would be some other place. Four pictures of the same building but from a different perspective, a different angle.

And you know what God did? God didn't destroy the individuality of the writer. They weren't exhaustive. No, none of them were exhaustive, but they're in harmony with each other.

And that explains why one of the writers in the gospel may mention a miracle or miracle so much of the time and another would hardly mention miracles. Let me give you a breakdown of that first section.

Matthew presented Jesus as the gospel, the regal gospel. He presented Jesus as a king. And so he traces the lineage of Christ as a king. He traces back to Abraham showing the lineage as a regal one.

Whereas Mark traces no lineage at all because Jesus is presented in the Gospel of Mark as a servant and a servant's lineage was not very important. Who back then cared for the roots of a servant?

Luke was a physician and he traces the roots of Jesus back as a man to Adam.

Well, John has no genealogy at all because God has no beginning. And John presents Jesus as very God himself.

That's the first section of the gospels.

The Historical SectionThe second section is the historical section. That's the Book of Acts. And that shows the progress of history that began to take place after the ascension of Jesus and the birth of the church.

The EpistlesThere's a third section in the Old Testament and that's the epistles, 21 books, 14 written by Paul, two by Peter, one by James. John wrote three and Jude wrote one. Paul wrote a number of letters to the churches and he wrote to the pastors also. That's the third section. So we have the gospels, the historical, and the epistles.

The Prophetical SectionAnd that leads one more section, and it's just one book. It's the prophetical section. And it's the Book of Revelation.

The Unity of Scripture

Folks, what you have in the Bible is we have 40 writers who wrote over a period of 1600 years from Moses all the way to John, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament in Koinonia Greek. When you study the Bible, remember this, there are three things that really the Bible is constantly speaking about, people, events, and truth, doctrine. You can trace your way through the Bible by just calling to mind the men and women of the Bible. You can take the events of the Bible and you can trace your way all the way from Genesis to Revelation, creation, fall, flood.

You can go through the scripture by just naming the events. But there's one more thing that I want to say. And that is, there's a central theme to the Bible. And the central theme of the Bible is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't miss that because if you do, you're just going to... things just are going to get all muddy, they're not going to fall together.

You see, when you read the Old Testament, remind yourself, I'm reading before Christ came. Some are going to relate to the coming of Jesus. The New Testament, orient yourself wherever you are in the Bible to the sections of the Bible so that you're able to think about Jesus.

The Red Thread of Jesus

Dr. Adrian Rogers said, "Cut the Bible anywhere and it will bleed. The blood of Jesus stains every page." So think of this as it relates to each book in the Bible. Let me take some of the books. Let me take you... I'm not through all 66, but let me just mention a few.

In Genesis, Jesus, you see the promised redeemer. Every book in the Bible folks, every page is stained as Dr. Rogers said, with the blood of Jesus. Dr. Scroggie in his book, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption says that there is a red thread going all the way from Genesis to Revelation. And that red thread represents the blood of Jesus.

• Genesis, you see he's the promised redeemer.
• In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb.
• In Leviticus, he's the atoning sacrifice.
• In Numbers, you see he's the bronze serpent lifted up.
• In Ruth, he's our kinsmen redeemer.
• In first Samuel, he's the prophet, priest, and king.
• In Nehemiah, he's the one who restores what is broken down.
• In Job, he's the mediator between God and man.
• In Isaiah, he's the suffering servant.
• In Daniel, he's the stranger in the fire with us.
• Hosea, in Hosea, he's the faithful husband even when we run away.
• In Obadiah, he's the judge of those who do evil.
• Micah, he cast our sin into the sea of forgetfulness.
• In Zephaniah, he's the warrior who saves.

When you get to the New Testament, Matthew presents him as a king. Mark, he's a servant. In Luke, he's a deliverer. In John, he is God in the flesh. Paul said in Galatians, "He's our very life." In Philippians, he's the joy of our life. In First Thessalonians, he's our comfort in the last days. Second Thessalonians, he's our returning king. First Timothy, he's the savior of the worst sinners. Second Timothy, he's the leader of leaders. In Titus, the foundation of truth. In Philemon, he's our mediator. In Hebrews, he's our high priest. The final book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, he's the king of kings and Lord of Lords, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. And he's coming again. And the one who makes all things new.

So folks, listen, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, Christ is the central theme and the blood of Jesus Christ that brings salvation, you see it on every page.

Billy Sunday's Vision

Let me close with this story. My father, one of his good friends was Dr. Harry Clark. Both my dad and Dr. Clark are in heaven now. Dr. Clark was the last song leader that the great evangelist, Billy Sunday had. Dr. Clark told this story about Billy Sunday. Billy was preaching in the City of Chicago in a revival meeting, but he thought it was a very unsuccessful experience. And on one of the evenings, he went back to his motel and he was discouraged. But when he got back to the motel, he took out a pencil and a pad of paper and he began to write these words.

I quote. "29 years ago with the Holy Spirit as my guide, I entered at the portico of Genesis, walked down the corridor of the Old Testament art galleries where pictures of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob, and Daniel hung on the wall. I passed into the music room of Psalms where the spirit sweeps the keyboard of nature until it seems that every reed and pipe in God's great organ responds to the harp of David, the sweet singer of Israel. I entered the chamber of Ecclesiastes, where the voice of the preacher is heard, and into the conservatory of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley where sweet spices filled and perfumed my life.

I entered the business office of Proverbs and on into the observatory of the prophets where I saw the telescopes of various sizes pointing to far off events, concentrating on the bright and morning star, which was to rise above the moonlit hills of Judea for our salvation and redemption. I entered the audience room of the King of Kings, catching a vision written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thence into the correspondence room with Paul, Peter, James, and John writing the epistles. I stepped into the throne room of Revelation where tower the glittering peaks, where sits the King of Kings upon his throne of glory with the healing of nations in his hands, and I cried out, 'All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all.'"

That's what Billy Sunday wrote as he remembered what the word of God had done to his life. You see folks, when you study the scriptures, you're studying either in part or in whole, a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Corby LaCroix: Thanks again for listening. If you'd like to know more about Northwest Bible Church, visit us at nwbible.org. Until next time, remember, for the issues of life for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for life.

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Corby LaCroix: Welcome to The Bible for Life Podcast, where we are passionate about leading and equipping people in a growing relationship with Jesus. In today's episode, it's part one of Pastor Harrell overview of the Book of Genesis. And now with today's study, here's Pastor Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell: I'm excited to begin this series of podcasts that are going to take us book by book through the Bible, and they're going to be in different segments. We're not going to do all 66 one right after another. I'm going to begin today and I'm going to take the first seven books from Genesis all the way through Judges, but I want to say this at the beginning, the purpose of this is to give us an overview of each book.

We're not going to get into the details and the nitty gritty, but rather the purpose is so that when we come to the end, we've got a good grip, a good handle, on how the Bible all meshes together. You see the Bible is one book and within it, there are 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and the purpose is to help us to be able to see an overview. So when you think of the Book of Genesis that I'm going to begin with today, you have an understanding of the Book of Genesis. You've got kind of an outline in your Bible. And so stick with me as we go through and begin our series of going book by book through the Bible. So let's begin.

The Story of Alex Haley and Roots

He was only a boy. He was raised in Henning, Tennessee. The best years of his life were spent, he says, at his grandmother's knee. She told him stories of well, his heritage, and those stories took him back to her grandparents and on beyond to their grandparents, and as far back as even to the 1700s. Well, when this young man became an adult, he was intrigued by those stories and he wanted to document their authenticity. So he began a pursuit, a pursuit that would take him half a million miles, three continents, two oceans, and twelve and a half years later, our nation was learning a new definition for an old word, roots. Not that which grows under a bush or a tree or a plant, it meant one's origin, one's beginning. And Alex Haley led many of us to pursue the roots of our own lives.

I remember when I was a little boy, my dad and I traveled to our national roots. I remember him taking me to Williamsburg, Jamestown, Mount Vernon, and so many other historical places. And even today, when I stand in those places, something happens to me. It's the roots of our nation. I also remember as a little boy seeing the house where my dad was born there in the hills of Tennessee. He was one of fourteen children, and I remember the day of when my dad pointed and said, "Son, see that house? That's where I was born."

I remember him taking me to the one room schoolhouse that he attended for the first eight years of his education through the eighth grade. I remember him walking me down a hill a long ways in the back of his house to a spring, and that's where they would have to go down and take pails and buckets and get their water and then bring it all the way up and carry that heavy water all the way up.

To me, those are ... That's nostalgia, wonderful memories. That's my roots. I remember family reunions and the chickens and the eggs at my grandma's place. I remember milking cows. You see the hills of Tennessee, that's where my roots were. And what the roots were to Alex Haley and what our roots are as a nation, and what the hills of Tennessee means to me, the Book of Genesis means to the Christian. It's the book of our roots.

Genesis: The Book of Beginnings

You see, folks, everything starts in the Book of Genesis. Everything has its foundation. It's the book of beginnings. Now over the centuries, critics have leveled an assault and it's going on today in a heavy way against those first ten words in the Book of Genesis, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." And the reason for that assault is that if they can destroy those first ten words, then they destroy our faith.

You see, even the critics see the value of our roots. It's a battleground that's going on today. The Book of Genesis it's like me saying to you, "Look, that's where you begin."

The Name Genesis

Now let me talk about meaning, the name of the book itself. It may surprise you that that a Hebrew book has a Greek title, but the word genesis, the title was given to it in 250 BC by seventy scholars that put together the Septuagint that translated the Hebrew text into Greek.

You see, the Greek language, that was the language during that 400 year intertestamental period, from the end of Malachi to the beginning of the New Testament, and if they didn't have it in Greek, then there was no Bible to read. It was interesting also to find out that the word genesis, genesis, the Greek word genesis, it's translated in the New Testament, birth or beginning. And you see it two times, first in the Book of Matthew in the birth of Jesus, second in the Book of Luke, it's the birth of John the Baptist. So Genesis means beginning. It's the idea of begetting or giving birth to or starting.

The Structure of Genesis

Now let me take you on a quick trip through the Book of Genesis and just hang with me right here. You see in chapter two, you see the genesis, the beginning of the heaven and the earth. The Bible says in Genesis chapter two, "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth." In chapter five, you see the beginning of man in verse number one, "This is the book of the genealogy of Adam." Chapter six, the beginning of Noah, "This is the genealogy of Noah."

Chapter 10 verse one, "These are the generations of the sons of Noah." When you get later on into chapter 11 right after the Tower of Babel is destroyed, the Bible says in chapter 11 of Genesis verse 10, "This is the genealogy of Shem." And from Shem, you get ... The Jewish lineage begins in verse 27. It says, "This is the genealogy of Terah and Terah beget Abraham," who was the beginning of the Hebrew race. You see, that's the Genesis of the Jews. In Chapter 25, "This is the genealogy of Ishmael." Verse 12. In verse number 19, "This is the genealogy of Isaac. Chapter 37, "These are the generations of Jacob."

Now why in the world have I gone through all of these verses? Now listen carefully, because that's the major phrase in the Book of Genesis. "This is the genealogy of." Or, "These are the generations of." Or, "These are the roots of." You see, the Book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. Whatever begins, folks, begins right there in Genesis. In the Book of Genesis.

Now listen, you find the beginning of prophecy, the beginning of man, the beginning of time, of matter, the beginning of sin, the beginning of the plan of God, the beginning of the Jews, the beginning of the family, the beginning of the husband and wife relationship, the beginning of children, the beginning of life, of judgment, the beginning of the Messiah, and the promise of his coming. It's all right there.

W. Graham Scroggie said the first 11 chapters of the Book of Genesis is the seed plot of the Bible. Everything flows out of the Book of Genesis into the rest of the Bible and everything else in the word of God finds its beginning right there in the Book of Genesis.

Genesis and the Pentateuch

Now the Book of Genesis is part of the first five books in the Bible, it's called the Pentateuch. We call it that. Penta means five, and the word teuch means in Hebrew tool. It carries the idea of that which is useful, or the five useful books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jews call it the Torah or the law.

Now the author of the Book of Genesis is Moses, and he obviously received the revelation from God itself. But what I want to do quickly is I want to take you and show you the relationship of the Book of Genesis with the other four books in the Pentateuch.

• In the Book of Genesis, you're going to see the record of rebellion.
• The Book of Exodus, it's the record of deliverance, where the Jews are delivered miraculously by God from the bondage that they had over them ... That the Egyptians had over them in Egypt.
• In Leviticus, it's communion, it's the record of communion. The Jews come to Mount Sinai and they learn how to commune with God.
• In the book of Numbers, it's a book of directions. Key word is directions. In Numbers, we're going to see how the Lord removes the old generation and brings on the new generation and direction through the wilderness.
• And in Deuteronomy, it's a book of instructions. Deuteronomy means second law, and you're going to see in the Book of Deuteronomy, there are seven sermons in which God instructs the people.

God presents himself in Genesis as he's sovereign. In Exodus, his omnipotence. The plagues, the parting of the Red Sea. In Leviticus, God is holy. Like Isaiah said, "He is holy, holy, holy," which in the Jewish way of thinking means God is infinitely holy. And in the Book of Leviticus, he is approachable by blood because Leviticus 17:11 says, "The life of the flesh is in the blood." And we're going to see the sacrificial offerings that they had to have in approaching a holy God. In the book of Numbers, God is just, and the Book of Deuteronomy God is faithful to preserve his people through years of rebellion and bondage, bringing them into the land there and that begins the Book of Joshua. That's how the Book of Genesis fits into the five books, the Pentateuch.

The Outline of Genesis

Now let me give you a general outline of the book. This will give you some handles, I think, to grab hold of. Chapters, 1 to 11, that's the beginning of the human race, and it spans from eternity past up until you're introduced to a man by the name of Abraham. Chapters 12 to 50, that's the beginning of the Hebrew race, the chosen race, and God settles his attention on one people and that's the Jews. And he traces them and really in somewhat of a careful detail through the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Now you may be listening to this podcast, going to work, on a break, you may be on a treadmill, you may be mowing the grass. I'd encourage you to listen to it again where you can get your Bible and a piece of paper and on that piece of paper, I would encourage you, and even now, just take a line, have a piece of paper on your mind and draw a line right down the middle. On the left hand side, put chapters 1 to 11, on the right hand side, put chapters 12 to 50.

Key Comparisons

• Chapters 1 to 11 spans a period of 2,000 years.
• The next 39 chapters spans a time period of 300 years.
• The emphasis in chapters 1 to 11 is on events.
• The emphasis in chapters 12 to 50 is on people.

The four major events that you see in those first 11 chapters, the creation, fall, flood, and nations. You've got the creation, the fall of man, the flood, the word God brings judgment on the earth, and the nations that follow. In the last 39 chapters chapters, 12 to 50, you've got four major people. You've got Abraham and his son Isaac, and one of his sons, Jacob, and one of his sons, Joseph, and you come to the end of the Book of Genesis and you finish the life of Joseph, and the last verse tells us that he died at the age of 110.

When you come to the conclusion of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, the result is confusion and scattering. You see, they had tried to create a Tower of Babel that went all the way up into heaven and they did it for their own glory, and as a result, judgment came upon them and now there are many tribes and nations and they were scattered and a lot of the languages. You see, up until then there was only one language on the earth.

When you come to the end of chapter 50, the result of the last 39 chapters is that the Jews wind up in bondage, Israel is in Egypt, and they're in need of hope and deliverance.

Detailed Chapter Breakdown

Now let me give you something that I think will also assist us in getting a handle, and I want to take the chapters and break them down and then let's look at some sections there in the Book of Genesis. Again, we're not going to cover it in detail, I just want to kind of give you a panoramic view, but I think this will help you.

• Creation, chapters 1 and 2.
• The fall of man, chapter 3.
• The flood, chapters 4 to 9.
• The nations, chapters 10 and 11.
• Abraham, chapters 12 to 25.
• Isaac, 26 to 27.
• Jacob, chapters 28 to 36.
• And Joseph, chapters 37 to 50.

Remember, in those first 11 chapters, that's primeval history. In the last 39 chapters, that's the patriarchal history. The first 11 chapters covers 2,000 years, the last 39 chapters covers only 300 years. The emphasis is on four major events in those first 11 chapters, and in the last 39 for significant people.

Key Verse and Phrase

You might say, "What's the key verse in the Book of Genesis?" I think it's chapter 3, verse 15, where the Bible says, "God said, 'And I will put enmity between you and woman and between your seed and her seed.'" God's saying that to Satan. And that's the prophecy, the first prophecy in the Bible, the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. But it's the seed of the woman. And remember, the key phrase through the entire Book of Genesis, you find it over 10 times, "These are the generations of ..."

Looking at Specific Sections

Now let's look at some of the sections and the Book of Genesis begins in verse number 1, and the book begins, notice those words, "In the beginning." In other words, in Genesis 1:1, that's the time when there was no matter, no nothing, and we can't comprehend it. I mean, it's just eternity. Nothing there. Nothing but God, the God head. I mean, there is nothing. There's no universe, no matter, just infinity past. And you see, folks, we can't eternity.

So let me give an illustration that maybe might put it into context. There was a time when there was no matter and we just can't comprehend it. Suppose you had a steel ball or there was a steel ball the size of the earth, 25,000 miles in circumference. Solid steel. And every one million years, a little sparrow would come and would land on that solid steel ball, and he'd be released and land on the ball and to sharpen his beak and to fly away for another one million years. Well, by the time he had worn that ball down to the size of a BB, eternity has just begun.

We can't fathom eternity. I mean, God dwelt when there was nothing else. He was in the beginning. Actually, He never had a beginning and by his fiat word, He created matter, He created man. God created everything in six days and on the seventh day, He rested. And in verse number 31 of chapter 1, the Bible says, "Then God saw ... He saw everything that He had made and it was very good." Nothing ... In other words, God says, "Nothing can be added. Everything is there that I wanted." I mean, land matter, light, life, sea, vegetation, man and woman, it's all there, and it's very good.

When you get into chapter two, now you find the detail of the creative work of the sixth day where man is created. And when you get down to verse number 8 in chapter 2, the Bible says, "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed." I mean, what a place. We have no concept. I mean, it was amazing. You see, at that time, the earth was watered, not by rain because there was no rain until the flood, but the water came from beneath the earth. The dew came up and it was a perfect paradise and God made woman and now there's companionship between men and woman. There's intimacy in their sexual lives. I mean, it's all in the state of innocence. It's incredible. And God said, "Be fruitful, multiply, replenish, fill the earth." It's incredible.

The Fall

But all of the wonder and all of the innocence and all of the ecstasy of the original creation is suddenly vanished when you come to chapter three, and for the first time the devil comes on the scene and he comes in the form of a serpent, not a snake. He's not crawling on his belly, but rather he was attractive. You see, the devil used his ability to speak through animals, and unfortunately, the woman listened to the questions that he asked.

God had given them a warning in chapter 2, verse 16. The Bible says, "And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day that she eat of it, you shall surely die." In other words, God is saying you have everything you'd ever want, stay away from that. But they didn't and Adam took and they sinned.

You say, "How could Adam do that?" Well, the question I want to give to you today is how is it that we, I mean, being so warned in scripture week after week, Sunday after Sunday, service after service, Bible study after Bible study, and the very thing that God says stay away from, we don't and we bite it, and the result of Adam's sin is tragic. And we'll pick up right there, folks, on our next podcast.

Corby LaCroix: This has been the Bible for Life podcast with Pastor Ken Harrell. Thanks for joining us today and make sure you like, subscribe, and encourage others to do so as well. We can't wait to see you again on the next episode. And remember, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's The Bible for Life.

Corby LaCroix: Welcome to The Bible for Life Podcast, where we're passionate about leading and equipping people in a growing relationship with Jesus. In today's episode, it's part two of Pastor Harrell's overview of the book of Genesis. We're so glad you're with us. And now with today's episode, Pastor Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell: We ended our last podcast as we began the book of Genesis. We ended in chapter three, where sin now has entered the world for the first time. And I just want to say before I get into this podcast, just a reminder that what these podcasts taking book by book is to give us an overview. We're not going to get into the details. We're not going to even cover every chapter, but I just want you to get a handle on the book. For instance, the book of Genesis, so let's go back and let's pick up where we left off.

The Consequences of Sin

Adam sinned. Sin enters the world and the result is tragic. I find it interesting that the first thing that man did was cover up. That's still going on today, folks. Before this time, there was nakedness but no shame. You know why? Because Adam and Eve were not self-conscious. You see, sin brought self-consciousness into the world.

In chapter three, verse nine, the Bible says, "Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" God didn't wonder where he was. He knew where he was. And the Bible says, "So Adam said, 'I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.'" Those are new words for Adam. "I was afraid. I was naked." And God says, "Who told you, you were naked, Adam?"

And then the curse came, folks. And that's the beginning of the end for Satan, for man, for man... man died instantly, spiritually. And the moment he sinned, it started the process of death physically. You see, that was never to happen. God created man to live forever in that incredible majestic place called the garden. The serpent, the curse came said you'll crawl on your belly. And for the first time drops to the ground and he can't get off. He gives woman the curse and that's the whole problem of motherhood that women go through. The pain.

He gives man a curse. By the way, the curse isn't work. It's the sweat of work. It's the pain that comes with work. And God now sets the stage for the remaining of the Bible. In verse 15, he said, "and I will put enmity, Satan, between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed." You see, from then until now that battle is going on. And by the way, her seed, that's a reference to Jesus Christ. It's in the singular and God said, "he shall... to Satan, he shall crush your head and you will bruise his heel." But that battle continues throughout time. Evil versus good. That's exactly what's going on in this world right now. It's evil versus good.

Well God cast them out of the garden. He puts a guard at the gates and they're not permitted to enter.

The Genealogy of Depravity

It's interesting when you get to chapter five. I want to show you something, if you've never seen it before. In chapter five, the Bible says in the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. That's verse one. In verse three, the Bible says, and Adam lived 130 years and began a son in his own likeness. You see that? God created Adam in the likeness of God, but now Adam has sinned. He's a sinner. And he has a son and begets a son in his own likeness. And there you see the first sign of depravity.

The Flood

In chapter five, it gets worse, folks. The Bible says that sin is running rampant and the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. And then in verse number seven, the Lord said, "I will destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth." And every single human being was going to be destroyed, but there was a man by the name of Noah.

In chapter six, verse eight says, "but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." And that begins the story of the flood. I'm amazed at how many Christians I've talked to over the years who have these strange ideas about the flood and the Ark. If you study carefully, the Bible, you'll find out that the maximum time they were in the Ark was one year and 17 days. The total time of the deluge, omitting the loading time, was one year and 10 days. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. That was a total rainfall. Chapter seven verse four tells us that. Verse 12, 40 days and 40 nights. Verse 17 of chapter seven, 40 days and 40 nights.

There had never been a flood over the entire earth. In fact, until that time there'd never been rain. And the earth then, folks, was nothing like it is today. The atmosphere was different. No rain. But with this flood, it brought incredible changes... geologically, to the climate. The whole upheaval of the earth, the whole strata of the terrain, as vast continence twisted and pushed up and sections of the ocean bottomed off. It took over one year for the waters to recede and the Ark rested on Mount Ararat.

I don't know if you've ever been to the Ark encounter, down just outside of Cincinnati, over into Kentucky. It got a replica of the Ark. It's the most fascinating replica in the entire world. That Ark, 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high. It's amazing. Critics of mock the flood and the Ark and they say, "oh, it never happened." But the fact is, it did happen. And you know what? God put a rainbow in the sky just to remind you and me, not only did it happen, but that was a promise from God that it would never happen again.

After the Flood

Now from Noah and his sons, came a whole new world. Noah didn't forever walk with God. He lived a long life. Chapter nine verse 28 tells us that Noah lived after the flood 350 years. So all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. But unfortunately in the latter part of his life, after the flood, he got drunk and his son and himself... there was an elicit act, nakedness, shamefulness, and a curse fell on that boy. Had followed and plagued him all of his life.

But when you get to chapter 10... chapter 10 is... it traces the origin, or should I say the Genesis, the beginning of the nations. It's one of the most interesting of all the chapters in Genesis, but I got to tell you, when you begin to read it, it may very well put you to sleep, but it traces the origins, the Genesis of all the nations.

The Tower of Babel

Well now you come to chapter 11, and chapter 11 is the Tower of Babel, that humanistic attempt that failed. People wanted to make a tower that went all the way up into heaven so that they would never be scattered. They wanted to make a name for themself and God brought judgment on them. And as a result, God scattered them into nations. He confused their languages. And now for the first time, it's a multi-lingual world. You see, up until that time, there was only one language, but now there's all sorts of changes.

God Chooses Abraham

And as a result, God set his heart on Abraham and chose him to be his own. And he began the work of the semitic line, the people of the Hebrews. God says that he chose them simply because he chose them. In Deuteronomy seven, verse seven, the Bible says, "the Lord did not set his love on you." Speaking to the Hebrews, to the Jews. "He did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more number than any other people, for you are the least of all the people." God chose him just because he chose them.

Abraham was an idolater at one time, but he turned to God in faith. And as a result, God made an unconditional promise, an unconditional covenant. God said, "I'm going to bless those who bless you. And I'll curse those who curse you. And through you, the nations will know of me." And in chapter 12, God begins his messianic plans that brings Jesus Christ through the line of Abraham.

I'm going to come back to Genesis as I get into the book of Exodus so that you understand exactly what's going on.

Applications for Our Lives

But before we close this podcast, I want to make a couple of applications to your life and my life. The first application is like those in Genesis, we were created by God. Psalm 139 says that we have a body built by God. We were fearfully and wonderfully made. And if you are a parent of young children, I would encourage you to make this a reality in your communicating and teaching and leading your child. Let them see who they are, not defined by what the world and our culture tells them, not by what they read or what they see, but rather by what God has to say that they were fearfully and wonderfully made. Their body's just like God wanted it to be. The reason their nose is like that, their ears, whatever, is simply because that's how God made them. And God said they're beautiful in his sight.

There's another application. And I want you to listen to me carefully. We are all just like Adam after he sinned. We are fallen at birth. We're sinners by nature. The Bible says the soul that sins must die, and you and I would draw our last breath and die and go to hell except for a man. And that man's name is Jesus Christ. And God gave that man his son to be a substitute for our sins. And just like the Ark, those that come inside are safe. Those that stay outside of Jesus are lost. And thank goodness by the grace of God, he brought me in. I hope you've let him bring you in.

But you know what? For those that reject God's plan, continually trying to build their own towers, their own babbles to make a name for themselves. I just want to tell you, if that's you, it's a futile effort. I don't know if you've ever seen how the book of Genesis closes, but it's the way that most men and women close their lives.

They close it in a coffin. The last verse in the book of Genesis says, "so Joseph died being 110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." You see, your life can end in a coffin or it can begin at a cross. The choice is yours.

If you're listening to this podcast, I don't want to take for granted that you're on your way to heaven. You might be on your way to hell. And I want you to listen to me. Our roots, your roots and mind take us all the way ultimately back to Genesis. And we have to face the fact of what God says about the origin of things, and especially about the seed of the woman who was sent for your salvation. You see, the only way to get out of the coffin is through his life.

Jesus took your sin and my sin, and he paid the penalty of our sin. He shed his blood that our sin would be forgiven. He died, he was buried, and he rose from the dead. That's the gospel. That's the good news. And if you've never asked Jesus Christ to come into your life, you can do it right now. Just say, "Jesus, I admit, I'm a sinner. And I know I need a savior. And I ask you Jesus to come into my life and forgive me of my sin. And I ask God that you would bring me into your forever family. I'm trusting you Jesus, and no one but you." If you will do that, I promise you God will forgive your sin, give you an eternity in heaven, place you in his forever family.

Until the next podcast, as we begin the book of Exodus, I hope you'll be in God's word. I'd encourage you if you're listening to this, but not writing anything down, take the time. It's worth it. I'll see you at our next podcast.

Corby LaCroix: This has been The Bible for Life Podcast with Pastor Ken Harrell. Thanks for joining us today and make sure you like, subscribe, and encourage others to do so as well. We can't wait to see you again on the next episode and remember, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's The Bible for Life.

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Corby LaCroix: Welcome, once again to The Bible for Life Podcast, where it is our mission to lead and equate people in a growing relationship with Jesus. In this episode, Pastor Harrell is going to take us all the way through the book of Exodus as he brings out five key words that represent five key themes that are going to help us have a clearer understanding of how this very important book fits in with the bigger story of what God's trying to tell us. So wherever you are, whatever you're doing, let's settle in and learn together. And now your senior pastor, Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell: There's nothing worse in life than being in bondage. And there's nothing better than to experience freedom. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." That's the purpose for our podcast. That's the reason for The Bible for Life. When we come to the second book in the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, the Jews are in captivity, they're in bondage and they need to be delivered.

Let me just begin by telling you what the word Exodus means. It simply means to get away from something or departure.

Background: From Genesis to Exodus

Now, in order to understand the connection between the book of Genesis and Exodus, we have to go back to the book of Genesis in those last few chapters. In Genesis 47, remember the book of Genesis tells us how things got started. And in our episode, on the book of Genesis, the overview of that book, I told you this second section. There's two sections to that book.

And the second goes from chapter 12 to chapter 50 and it covers four main people. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the favorite son of Jacob, Joseph. Now Joseph's life takes place from chapter 37 all the way through chapter 50.

The Story of Joseph

Let me give you a brief kind of like cliff notes of the story of what happened to Joseph. As I said, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, but that caused jealousy with his brothers and his brothers decided to kill him. And in fact, they were going to beat him to death if it hadn't been for Reuben, one of the brothers. And so as a result, they put them in a pit. Then they ultimately sold him to a caravan and he became a slave headed to Egypt. And there he was enslaved.

In fact, on two different occasions, he wound up in prison, but ultimately because of the character of Joseph and everything else in his life and God's plan, Joseph ultimately was elevated to the position of, now get this, Prime Minister to the Pharaoh who is the King of Egypt.

Now, his brothers had long thought he was dead. And ultimately there came a famine in the land where Joseph's family lived. However they heard of the store houses of food that were in Egypt, but they didn't realize that Joseph was the reason for those store houses that were full of food in Egypt. And so ultimately they made their way because they'd starve to death if they didn't find food.

And so they get to Egypt and through a series of events, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers who thought he was dead. And there's this reunion between Joseph and his brothers. And it led to them moving to the land because of the grace of Joseph but also I would say the grace of Pharaoh because you see Pharaoh absolutely loved Joseph. And so Jacob and his sons and their families moved into the fertile valley of denial there in Northern Egypt.

In chapter 47 of Genesis verse one, the Bible says and Joseph situated his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land, in the lands of Rameses as Pharaoh had commanded.

And so, as I said, because of the grace of Pharaoh and the grace of God, Joseph's family is given the best land deal is like, I mean, where they could grow their crops. And verse 12 says, "Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers and all of his father's household with bread, according to the number of their families." I mean, they would have died because of the famine, but now they're therein Egypt. And verse 27 says, so Israel, I mean the whole group now is there dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

Now this is a wonderful thing for the Jews, but we're going to find out it posed a, a genuine threat to Pharaoh. Well, time passed and Jacob died and then you get to chapter 50 and verse 22.

And the Bible says, "So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household and Joseph lived 110 years." Now that sets the stage listen carefully just before the 350 years of silence with scripture. Just like the end of the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, there is a 400 year period of silence during that inter-testimonial period between the end of Malachi and the beginning of the New Testament. Just like that, between the end of the book of Genesis and the beginning of the book of Exodus, there's a 350 year period of silence as far as scripture is concerned.

But the end of chapter 50 says in verse 24, "And Joseph said to his brother, I am dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you out." Those words, bring you out. That's talking about the Exodus. "And God will bring you out of the land, out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob."

The Setting at the Beginning of Exodus

So Joseph dies. He's 110 years old when he dies and the family lived on. Now there's three-and-a-half centuries of silence. Now the question is what's taking place during that 350 years. Well, not only does Joseph die, but his sons die and his grandsons die and their sons die and a new generation arises. However, at the same time after Pharaoh dies and when you open the book of Exodus, it's an entirely new scene in the land of Goshen.

The Hebrew population, the Jews have grown to 600,000 men and that doesn't include women and children. So there are about 2 million Jews there. And the setting is extremely threatening to Pharaoh. When you open the book of Exodus, the Bible says in verse number 6 and 7, "And Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation, but the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty and the land was filled with them."

So here they are, they're in Egypt and they now, some historians say they could have easily outnumbered the Egyptians. But let me just pause here to tell you that shows you the promise of God that's taking place, because God promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation that through him, the people of the earth would be blessed.

Well, the three things I want you to remember as we go through the book of Exodus and the first one is, the Jews have grown. I mean, they are huge in number. The second thing I want you to remember is that there is a new Pharaoh in the land that didn't care about the Hebrews. I mean, in fact, he considered them a threat. In fact, the king said in verse number 9 of Exodus 1, "And the king, and he said to his people look, the number of the children of Israel are more than mightier than we.

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them less they multiply and it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so go out of the land. So that's the second thing I want you to remember as we go through. The Jews have grown, they're large in number around 2 million. And secondly, there's a new Pharaoh and he doesn't like them.

In fact, the third thing I want you to remember is that the Pharaoh decided that the only way to prevent future growth was to exterminate them, at least partial extermination. You say, how did that take place? Well, in verse number 15, "Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was Shiphrah. And the name of the other, who was pure. And he said, when you do the duties of midwife for the Hebrew women, if it is the son, then you shall kill him. But if it's a daughter, she shall live."

Well, the Hebrew midwives didn't cooperate at least initially. But Pharaoh intensifies his efforts. I mean, he is determined to stop the growth and the threat of the Hebrews.

The Five Key Sections of Exodus

That brings me into the first section of the book of Exodus and the key word there is bondage. And the first section is chapters one and two. So just keep that in your mind. The first section chapters one and two, that's bondage.

Section 1: Bondage (Chapters 1-2)

When you get to chapter two, God brings his attention to one little family of the tribe of Levi. The man's name is Amram and he's the father and Jochebed's the mother and they have a little baby boy, right in the middle of all this bondage. Well, what I want you to remember is chapter two of Exodus is the birth of Moses. And by the way, his birth mother didn't name him, it was his adopting mother that named him, Moses.

What happened is this in order to spare that baby boy's life. Well, what happened is that Pharaoh's daughter was in denial and she was bathing and she sees this basket floating toward her. What had happened is Jochebed had had Miriam, the daughter, put this basket with the little baby boy who was going to be named Moses in that and put it in denial in order to spare his life.

Well, when the basket comes floating toward Pharaoh's daughter, she hears the cry of a child in that basket. And when they bring the basket to her, she finds out that it's a Hebrew boy and she wants him. Well in a stroke of wisdom, Jochebed had sent Miriam because the baby was going to have to be nursed and so Pharaoh's daughter says, "The baby's got to be nursed," and Miriam says, "I know who can do it." And as a result, that baby falls right back into the arms of his birth mother Jochebed.

And is there until that baby is weaned. Now you might ask, why would God take the time for one little family and put all this attention on this family? Because it is the birth and the preparation of the one that is going to deliver the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Because you see the man who is going to deliver Israel from Egypt should know a lot about Egypt. And so he gets Moses into the house of Pharaoh and gives Moses a 40 year education. It's free. No student loans, nothing.

F.B. Meyer in his classic work on the biography of Moses said this and I quote, "The cream of all of Egypt poured into the cup of Moses." Josephus the Jewish historian said of Moses he was a man great in battle and was no doubt soon to be the Pharaoh. For 40 years Moses is educated.

He schooled during those younger years and he learns the science and astronomy and mathematics even hieroglyphics, that pictorial language. And so at 40 years of age, Moses is this bright, astute, quick, strong leader because in God's plan, he is going to be the deliverer for the Hebrews out of the bondage they're in Egypt.

But suddenly the story has a twist in verse number 11 of chapter 2 the Bible says, "Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brother and looked at her burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brother. So he looked this way and that way and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Now that's not the best way to deliver your people is by killing Egyptians. The problem with Moses at that point in his life is that he wanted to do God's will his own way.

And the result was disastrous. In fact, in verse 15, it says, "When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well."

Let me just stop right here and ask those of you that are listening. Is that where you are right now in your walk with God? Are you trying to do God's will your way? Let me tell you don't do it. Because it always leads to desert living. It leads to a dryness in your spiritual life.

Well, Moses fell in love and he married this girl and he winds up working for the dad. And his job is he is a shepherd in the Midian desert that is hot and blistering. And Moses does that. That's his job, for 40 years. Now fast forward. Moses is 80 years of age.

He's out in the desert. He sees this Bush, that's on fire, except the fire won't go out. You see, God has Moses right where he wants him. Because what that 40 years has done in Moses' life, it's brought him to a spiritual condition of brokenness where it's no longer Moses saying I want my will, but Lord, I want your will.

Section 2: Deliverance (Chapters 3-12)

That brings me to the next section in the book of Exodus. The first section is bondage, chapters one and two. The second section is from chapters 3 to 12. And the key word is deliverance.

Verse number 10, the Lord said to Moses, "Come now, therefore and I will send you to Pharaoh." I'm telling you, that's the worst words that Moses could possibly hear. I mean, Pharaoh was the one that was going to kill Moses. That's why he took off and ran away and wound up there in the backside of the desert.

And now God wants him to go back to Pharaoh. In verse number 12. So God said, "I will certainly be with you Moses. And this shall be a sign to you that I've sent you that when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." And those words brought the people out, brought out that's the Exodus again, that God is speaking about. What God was saying was Moses you're going to lead an Exodus.

And Moses, his reply is our famous response. When God leads us to do things and we don't want to do them or we don't think we're capable or we'll fail at it, Moses said in chapter three, verse 11, "Who am I, God, that I should go to Pharaoh, that I should bring the children of Egypt or children of Israel out of Egypt?"

I mean, you see folks, God doesn't look at us as we are, but what we can be if we're broken, if we're totally yielded to not our will, not our way, but Lord, what do you want me to do? Whatever it is, whenever it is, I'll do it.

Well, Moses gives in and he goes back to Egypt, but nothing happens all of a sudden. In fact, after Moses and Aaron, who was Moses' brother, when they arrive, Pharaoh rather than saying, okay, I'm going to let the people go. You see, that's why God sent Moses back to say to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh, God has said, let the people go let my people go." But instead of Pharaoh saying, okay, he increases the work for the Jewish people. You see they've been enslaved for hundreds of years. And the Bible says in Exodus 5:4, "Then the King of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor."

And Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are many now and you make them rest from their labor." So the same day, Pharaoh commanded the task masters of the people and their officers saying, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves and you shall lay on them the quota of the bricks, which they have made before. You shall not reduce it for they are idle." Therefore they cry out saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God, let more be laid on the men that they may labor in it and let them not regard false words.

The Ten Plagues

Well, from this point on till you get to chapter 12, because Pharaoh has stiffened his neck against God and refused to let the people go, God sends these plagues and they're 10 of them.

And he sends them one right after the other. I'm not going to go into detail, but I am going to mention what they are, but I want you to see as I go through them, that one after another, they increase and intensify because God is trying to make it harder and harder on Pharaoh so Pharaoh will say, "Yes, let the people go."

And it begins with God turning the Nile to blood. That's the first plague. And then the second plague is frogs. And each time Pharaoh refuses to let the Jews be freed from bondage. And so the third one is lice and then flies. And then God sends a disease to the livestock and then boils and then hail and then locusts. And then God sends a darkness over Egypt so that light cannot even penetrate. And yet still Pharaoh does not give in.

He stiffens his neck. He hardens his heart even more toward God. But then God's got one final one that he knows is going to get and Pharaoh is going to let the people go. And God says, the last one is the death of the firstborn. That if Pharaoh doesn't give in, if Pharaoh doesn't say, I'm going to let God's people go, God is going to send the death angel and the firstborn of every family there in Egypt is going to die that evening.

Well, what happens is Pharaoh does not let the people go and so this breaks the back of Pharaoh's resistance because that night not only Pharaoh's son, but the first born in every Egyptian family is killed. And it has a devastating toll on Pharaoh and his leadership. And it really, the climax to the book of Exodus is in chapter seven, verse 40 to 42. Listen to this.

"Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years. On that very same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Those words went out. That's the Exodus. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout all their generations.

Now let me just interject this. As you study your Bible, you'll see that in the Old Testament, the Zenith of illustrating God's power was the Exodus and in the New Testament, it's the resurrection. In other words, in the old Testament, the writers always went back to the Exodus to illustrate God's power saying that if God could orchestrate that, he can orchestrate anything.

The Passover

Well, that last plague that God sent led God to Institute the Passover. And you read that early in chapter 12 of Exodus, you see God told Israel how they could miss the death Angel. God told them, he said, "You take a lamb and you make sure it's a spotless lamb and you kill that lamb and you take his blood, take it outside of the front door and put the blood over the side and above the door. Put them on those posts in the lintel of the door. And in the evening, when the death angel comes, he will pass over and no one that firstborn will not be killed."

And so while in Egypt, all of the Egyptian families had the first born that was killed that evening. Not so with the Jewish families, because they did just as God instructed and that became a Memorial for the Jews.

And every year, since then a lamb would be killed and you read it all throughout the Old Testament. They would claim the house of yeast and every leaven, they would in a special way, roast a lamb and they would wear certain clothing and they would observe the Passover because on that first Passover, that was a beautiful illustration when they took the blood and they put it on the post and the lintel of the front door outside so the death angel could see. That was an illustration. That was a picture that God was giving of what would happen in the future when Jesus Christ, God's son, would shed his blood on Calvary. And for those of us that have accepted Christ as our personal savior and our sins have been forgiven because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God's judgment will never fall on us.

Even when you take communion, the juice and the bread, that's a picture of the body and the blood of the savior. Well, deliverance finally came. In chapter 12 and verse 37 the Bible says, "Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth about 600,000 men on foot besides children. And so Moses brings them out and if Moses thought, if he thought to the backside of the desert, tending sheep was tough, he's about to get a rude awakening.

Section 3: Journey (Chapters 13-18)

Now this leads us to the third section in the book of Exodus and that word, the key word is journey. And that's from chapter 13 to chapter 18. So the first section bondage, chapters 1 and 2 second section chapter 3 to 12 deliverance. And now chapter 13 to 18 journey, because now they're about to journey away from bondage.

And the Bible says in chapter 13, verse number 21 and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way. And by night in the pillar of fire to give them light. So as to go by day and by night, he led them right to the Red Sea. And now when you get to the red sea there, they've got the mountains to the north, the desert to the south, the sea is front of him and the Egyptians are coming. And Moses says to all of Israel, "Stand still." I mean, could you imagine hearing that? Hearing the Egyptians coming in the distance, but you see God was about to show his faithfulness and the sea opens up and the Hebrews walk through on dry land, through the Red Sea, that God parted those waters and held them back and they get all the way through and the Egyptians army is coming after them. But when the Egyptians get in there, all of a sudden the waters recede and all the Egyptians drown.

Well, you get to chapter 15 and they sing a song, man. They are celebrating, but sooner get through that celebration. And when you get to chapter 16, you know what they do? They start complaining. The Bible says in chapter 16, verse 2, "Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full for you have brought us out of the wilderness to kill this the whole assembly with hunger. I mean, can you imagine that?

Well, the Lord sends manna and he feeds them. He gives them, if I could say, angel food from heaven every single day. And let me just pause to say this folks. It takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy heavenly food.

And when there's the peace of God and where there's the hunger for God, you'll eat whatever is placed before you and you'll do it with gratitude. Well, how long does this go on? The Bible says in chapter 19 in verse 1 in the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that same day, they came to the wilderness in Sinai. I mean, three months, Moses, at this point, remembers his past. You just know it's going through his mind when he tended all those sheep of his father-in-law there at Sinai. And he thanks over the whole situation, but now he doesn't have sheep. Now he's there with 2 million. And what goes through his mind is the faithfulness of God. Because back in chapter three verse 12, God said to Moses, he said, Moses, I will certainly be with you.

And this shall be a sign. This is when God told Moses to go back to Egypt. He said, this will be a sign for you, Moses that you know, that I have sent you, that when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Well, now they're at Mount Sinai and God wrote his word and gave it to Moses to bring to the people. And for the first time God writes his revelation, even though they had been on earth for a couple of thousand years. And with his own fingers in the tablets of stone, Moses gets a message from God.

Section 4: Law (Chapters 19-24)

And that brings us to the fourth section in the book of Exodus. And that's from chapters 19 to 24. And the key word is law. God gives Moses a written document. He gives him the law and the purpose of the law was to show how holy God was and how sinful they were and how they had to be an utter dependence in their walk with God.

You see that law was God's standard. In chapter 20, that's when God gives the 10 commandments. And so now they have God's slaw and now a worshiping people need a place to meet with God.

Section 5: Tabernacle (Chapters 25-40)

And that brings us to the fifth and final section in the book of Exodus. And that's the last 16 chapters. And the key word is Tabernacle, that beautiful tabernacle of meeting, where God would confine his presence to the holiest of all behind the veil, in what is called the holy of Holies and annually the high priest would go in only one time a year and he would offer blood on the mercy seat for the forgiveness of the people that would cover their sins for that the year.

It was not a large place. In fact the outer court was 150 feet long by 75 feet wide. And the Tabernacle of meeting was only 45 feet long and 15 feet wide.

It consisted of a certain furniture, the brazen altar for the burnt offerings, the Laver where the priest would wash and inside the tent, the golden candlesticks and the table that was holding the bread and altar of incense, but then inside and within the veil was the little chest, only three foot, nine inches long and two feet, three inches wide and two feet, three inches deep. And on the top was a solid gold slab. And that was called the mercy seat. And on both ends, was a cherubim with wings, outstretched made of solid gold and the Shekhinah Glory that like the Glory of God rested on that plate. And what God was saying is I will be there and you will reach me by blood.

Now, the people are informed. They're organized around God with his word and they have a place to meet with him.

And in that last chapter, chapter 40 verses 34 and 35, the Bible says, "Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

One day a year, the veil would be pulled back and the high priests would walk in with blood and would take that blood and he would sprinkle it seven times on that mercy seat," because what God was illustrating is his holiness, that he could only be approached by blood. And that veil separated the people. And only the high priest could go in on one day a year. But when Jesus Christ went to the cross. And on that cross, he took our sin and he paid the penalty of our sin.

And he shed his blood because the Bible says where there's no shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. And when Jesus died on that cross, the Bible says the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. It normally never would be torn in two the building would be from bottom to top, but on this one from top to bottom, because God was picturing that he was tearing that veil in two so that now individuals that put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and now could be a member of God's forever family could have instant access into the presence of a holy God because Jesus once and for all gave his blood for our sins once and for all and he became a propitiation. God was satisfied with his death and God said, "All that are in Christ can come to me."

Application

Before I close in this episode on the book of Exodus, I want to make one application that I think is so practical because we all struggle with it. And that is this, like Moses we oftentimes want to do God's will, but we want to do it our own way. And as I said before, that always leads to desert living, to dryness of soul. And I want to encourage you today. God has given you and me immediate access when he tore the veil and now, regardless of what it is in our life, we can immediately come into the presence of a holy God, but we can't come by only one way. And that is because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that God says everyone who has accepted my son into their life as their Lord and savior, they've got instant access to me.

And I want to encourage you today. Every day of your life, spend time alone with just you and God coming into his presence, honoring him as the holy God that he is, loving him, pouring out your heart and every day, committing yourself to doing his will for your life, but not the way you want to do it, the way he wants to do it.

I would encourage you to review this. Even with your Bible, open reading the verses, jotting down notes. It'll help you to understand how the book of Exodus and the book of Genesis fit together and where God is going in the Old Testament. And I can't wait to come back in our next episode as I take a somewhat difficult book, the book of Leviticus. I'll see you then.

Corby LaCroix: Thanks again for tuning in to The Bible for Life Podcast. We're so glad you took the time to listen today. And we hope that the past lesson has strengthened your faith in Christ as we've walked our way through this pivotal second book of the Bible. As always feel free to follow, subscribe and share this podcast with your friends, because you never know how God's going to use it in someone else's life. Remember, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's The Bible for Life.

Corby LaCroix: Welcome once again, everybody. It's The Bible for Life Podcast, where in today's episode, Senior Pastor Ken Harrell is going to take us through the Book of Leviticus. We hope you find this episode to be both enlightening and encouraging as we seek to lead and equip you in a growing relationship with Jesus. Thanks for joining us today. Here's Pastor Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell: As I get started going through the Book of Leviticus, I want to make a couple of statements at the beginning. First of all, I want you to hang with me through this one. Okay? Don't anticipate understanding or grasping everything in its entirety as I'm going through it. But I promise you that I'll give you an outline for this book that you can go back over that will help you to understand why the Book of Leviticus is in the Bible. Let me make these statements. And the reason I'm doing this is because I believe it'll give you some insight into studying the Bible.

Understanding Leviticus

Inerrancy makes no claim to easy reading. You see God never promised that everything in the Bible from cover to cover would be interesting for everyone who would read it. In fact, some of it's hard reading and we are in a book like that in the Book of Leviticus. You see, it wasn't designed to be interesting to us because it wasn't written to us. That is in its basic interpretation. Let me give you three basic things that will help in times like this, like as we go through the Book of Leviticus and these are very important. Here's the first one.

Three Key Principles

Number one, its primary purpose was never intended for us. You see, when God recorded and preserved the Book of Leviticus, he didn't have Americans in mind, living in the 21st century, worshiping in permanent buildings, with driving cars. Most of us are living on farms, raising sheep. In fact, it wasn't even written to Protestants. Leviticus, God wrote it to the Jews, Jews who worshiped in a portable house of worship, who couldn't come to God apart from a lamb or a goat or a bird or some animal offering. You see, back then, that was the only way to God, through the blood. And you wanted to know how to do it. So God gave a book to tell them how to do it, but now for you and me, hey, Jesus has come. We don't need an animal sacrifice because Jesus wants for all offered up on behalf of our sins for all time. So when Jesus came, Leviticus lost its punch. It was designed that way.

Second thing I want you to remember is that its significance was designed to become obsolete. In other words, God designed Leviticus to go out of date. When Jesus on the Cross said, "It is finished," that meant a whole Levitical system, the need for a priest and a mediator and the whole Old Testament ritual was set aside. And now, today, we have the priesthood of the believer that we can come through Jesus directly to God. Just like I remember as a kid, Dad would have these albums, 33 and a third RPM, I think it was, or 78. And then there was a 45 where you could get a single on. Then the eight track and then the cassette tape and then the CD and albums and cases. All of that is obsolete. Now you can download and play from a playlist of your favorite individual songs without ever leaving where you're sitting. So those two things are very important to understand, that in Leviticus its primary purpose was never intended for us. And its significance was designed to become obsolete.

But now listen carefully because I want to clarify there's one more point and that is this, not in its application. None of God's Word is obsolete in its application. The basic interpretation for today is that the believer in the Body of Christ, we don't need the Book of Leviticus to find access to God as the Israelites needed centuries ago.

The Name and Context

Now, as far as the name Leviticus, it simply means pertaining to the Levites. The Levites were the priest or the mediator. In fact, every time when you go through the Old Testament, when you read the word priest, if you'll substitute the word mediator, you'll have a down pat, because in those days, in order to approach Jehovah, God, you had to have a go-between. And that was a priest from the tribe of Levi. He was a Levite. And Leviticus gave information for those mediators who were going to represent the people to God, how to do certain things, what to do, when to do it, why to do it. And even the consequences if they didn't do it.

Now, it was written for three months. It took them three months to get from Egypt to Mount Sinai. And when they get to the base of Mount Sinai, they're there for a full year and while they were there, God gave them two things. Now listen carefully. He gave them his word, that's the law of Moses. And he gave him a blueprint for a place of worship. And that's the Tabernacle, both from the hand of God, through Moses to the Jews. I mean, when Moses came down with the 10 Commandments from Mount Sinai, his face was just shining with the Shekinah Glory of God, that glorious light of God. And it had to be veiled, his face, so people could look on him. You see, Moses had been in the very presence of God and God was saying, "This is the word, walk in it." This is the blueprint for the house that you're to build. Worship in it.

And so Leviticus is during that one year where they sojourned at the base of Mount Sinai and Leviticus taught the people how to worship in that portable House of God. You see the Tabernacle could be folded and rolled up and carried down the shoulders. And it was in that tent of meeting that God would meet with his people.

Now in the Book of Leviticus, these are going to be pictures and portraits of Jesus when they brought the offering to the priest and he took the blood before God. That's a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus bringing his offering himself, pouring out his blood on our behalf once for all to God. And from that moment on throughout time, it annulled all the need of any other offerings because it was once and for all Jesus was sacrificed and God said, "I honor and I accept it."

So Leviticus for you and me, it loses its punch, but in picture form, it is still very, very relevant.

The Structure of Leviticus

You can break the Book of Leviticus into two parts, the first 17 chapters are the way to God. And that's by blood sacrifice. You see, for a person in the days of Moses and centuries following, to approach God, they had to come through the blood of an offering. And God designed it that way. And so for 17 chapters, the Lord spells out how a sinner could reach God, but in chapters 18 to 27, it's the walk with God, how a sinner can keep in touch in a practical way with the Holy God.

Now let me just interject this here. The Book of Leviticus is directly linked to the Book of Hebrews. In fact, G. Campbell Morgan has said this and I quote: "Leviticus and Hebrews are always to be kept together in your Bible study. I say, frankly, to anyone who thinks he is studying Hebrews, if he does not study Leviticus, he does not know Hebrews. Hebrews shows a fulfilling of everything suggested in Leviticus."

So as we work our way through Leviticus, let's look at it from like a bird's-eye view. I remember my father, when he was single, before he married Mom, he was in the three C's, the Civilian Conservation Corps. And he was down in the Smoky Mountains. And one of his assignments was he would go for two weeks at a time to the highest point there in the mountains. And there was a tower and he and his buddy, they would take 12-hour shifts. They stayed in a small one-room house. And the tower was right next to it. And they would climb up all the way to the top of that tower. And for 12 hours, my father would have a 360 degree view of the Smokies. He could see Wears Valley towns and Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg because he was always watching during those 12 hours for a forest fire. When I study, I mean, I have to tell you, though I study in detail, I appreciate a survey of anything because quite frankly, it is easy to get lost in the study of tree trunks. And you wind up missing the beauty of the whole forest.

The Five Offerings (Chapters 1-5)

So I want you to hang with me because we're going to go through the first five chapters. And in these first five chapters, they're five offerings. They're all different, but they all picture Jesus from a different perspective, from a different side.

Chapter 1: The Burnt Offering

In chapter one, that's the burnt offering. Verse number one says, "Now the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tabernacle of meeting." So Moses, while he's in the Tabernacle, the Lord speaks to him about this burnt offering. Verse two says, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock of the herd and of the flock.'"

Now notice this next part. "If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting before the Lord." That Hebrew word there suggests the idea of being totally consumed, burnt. That sacrifice totally consumed.

And God said, it's got to be a certain kind, a certain sex. It's got to be offered in a certain place, in a certain way. Why, because that he may be accepted before the Lord. You know what's interesting, that God never explains why. He just tells him what. And folks, the reason is because if you know the why, it doesn't require any faith.

Well, that first chapter, that burnt offering, is a picture of the complete dedication of Jesus Christ. It portrays the total consecration of his life. He could come to the Father at the time of his death and say, Father, nothing is left undone. All that I have done was for your glory. And as a whole burnt offering, I offer myself at the tent of meeting. And that is why Christ our sacrifice offered once for all, for us, he is our whole burnt offering.

Chapter 2: The Grain Offering

Chapter two is the grain offering. In verses one and two the Bible says, "When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priest, one of whom shall take from it, his hand full of fine flour and oil with all of the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made with fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

That's a handbook for the priest, and it speaks of the service and the life of the Lord Jesus. You see, grain was grown by people. It was ground up as fine flour by people. It was the work of their own hands, of their service of their life to God, and so it is with Christ. Jesus performed all of his works for the Father's glory. And he came to the Cross as our ultimate final eternal grain offering and offered up his life as a fine flour. And it was perfectly accepted, never to be offered again.

Chapter 3: The Peace Offering

Chapter three is a peace offering. Now it's not the same as a burnt offering because in chapter one, it says that that had to be a male, that sacrifice, that animal. But in verse number one and two of chapter three, it tells us differently. "When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the offering." And he goes on to describe it in 17 verses.

But that peace offering pictures Christ, who is our peace. You see, you don't have to work hard to gain peace with God because Jesus has already won your peace. That's why Paul in Ephesians 2 says, "He is our peace." And those four words are an incredible encouragement to me. He is my peace, not my work, my sacrifice. No. Not my offerings or not my sermons or my effort, not my family. He, Jesus stands as my peace offering to God.

I don't know if you've ever gone to the county fair or state fair. I suspect that at some time you probably have, but can go to certain sections and things start to smell because of the animals that are there. Well, back in Leviticus and in the Old Testament, when they came to God, they had to bring an animal. They had to bring a sacrifice, a certain kind. And there was an urn and they would pour in the blood. They'd take it to the mediator. And he had to go by the book or you wouldn't be forgiven. And it had to be by blood. It had to be by a certain time of a year. It had to be precisely as God described, or you weren't forgiven. And it was constant and frankly, it was troublesome. And when Christ, our Passover was offered once for all, all the animal sacrifices, the grain offering, the peace offering once for all were set aside. His body, his blood, one supreme sacrifice to be honored throughout time.

Chapter 4: The Sin Offering

Well, chapter four is the sin offering. And that speaks of... Well, let me just read the first three verses. Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the children of Israel saying, 'If any person sins unintentionally," I mean, you think the law wasn't specific? Moses said now, "If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything, which ought not to be done, or does any of them, if the anointed priest sins bringing guilt on the people, let him offer to the Lord for his sin, which he has sinned, have him offer a young bull without blemish, as a sin offering.

This speaks of the very nature of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus in his perfect nature offered once for all a sin offering to God. He came as the spotless lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And once he came, he never had to come again. That's why the mass folks is needless because it's saying that the death of Christ is null and void.

Chapter 5: The Trespass/Guilt Offering

And in chapter five, there is the trespass or the guilt offering. And these are the actions that were committed unintentionally, but being guilty, it needs an offering. You must make restitution. Chapter five verse one, "If a person sins in hearing an utterance of an oath and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter, if he does not tell it, he bears guilt. Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of an unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, and is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty." I mean, it's implying that he needs an offering.

So here is the death of Christ on behalf of our actual sins. You see, in chapter four, Christ paid the payment for our sin nature, but in chapter five, he also paid the payment for our actions of sin. He brought the guilt, the trespass offering to God, and it was once and for all honored and accepted.

Instructions and Laws (Chapters 6-17)

Now this may seem mundane, but just hang with me. Chapter six and seven, there's specific instructions regarding the details of the offering up of these sacrifices. But when you get to chapter eight to 10, this is information about the priest. Vital, folks, to the mediators in that day, but in our day, not so. You see, in chapters eight, nine, and 10, they were told what to wear, where to live, how to conduct their lives, and where to be, and when to be there, and their responsibilities. And as Levites, what to do. I mean, to the very letter of the law. I mean, their own hygiene and their own cleansing. And about now you're beginning to feel the binding confinement of the law, aren't you? I mean, do this and you'll live. And sometimes don't do this and you'll die.

Go from chapters 11 to 17, they're the laws for cleansing. And let me give you an overview quickly. It dealt with in those chapters diet, the foods for the Jews that they are to eat, the clean and what's unclean. And some, it dealt with the shape or the hoof of an animal. God said, "Eat this kind and there are no alternatives. These are my requirements." Hygiene was dealt with, even how to take care of a mother at the time of birth. And shortly following, conservation. It dealt with the treatment of diseases. You see, the priest was sort of a practicing physician and God gave them insight and wisdom so that the race could be preserved.

The Day of Atonement (Chapters 16-17)

But when you get to chapter 16 and 17, that's the information about the Day of Atonement, where once a year, the high priest with blood on behalf of the entire nation would go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle that blood before the mercy seat. And every year he had to follow this ritual to the T. And I would really encourage you to take a time when things are quiet and read Leviticus 16 and 17 without stopping. Read it a couple of times, because they had to do that every year, the high priest and the nation. I mean, it was the day of the year. And I mean, it's almost like the nation came to a halt while the high priest went in there because the forgiveness, the covering of their sin for a year, it was dependent on the high priest doing just as God told him to do.

You see, it speaks of the high view God has of blood. And one of the key verses in the Book of Leviticus is Leviticus 17:11, "The life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."

What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb, the Lord Jesus. You see, on the Cross, Jesus shed his blood and God saw the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus and said, "I am satisfied. Once for all, all sins are covered, past, present, future. And I honor that blood. And all that find satisfaction in my sight have to come through Jesus Christ, my lamb, who was sacrificed for the sins of the world."

Folks, the Book of Leviticus, I mean, it's like the neon lights are flashing and God is saying, never forget the way you come to me is through the blood.

Holy Living and Times (Chapters 18-27)

Well, from chapters 18 to the end, they're just practical guidelines. Let me outline it for you. Chapters 18 to 22, it's the truth on holy living. Chapters 23 to 26 speaks of holy times. The whole Jewish calendar was designed around the number seven. And when you get to the final chapter, chapter 27, it speaks of holy vows. In other words, you're not to be speaking lies. When you spoke vows to God, you were to keep them. And it reiterates in that chapter, the severe terms of not keeping those vows.

Well, the feast and celebrations, folks, were a vital part of the Jewish lifestyle, the Sabbath, the Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Booths, the Sabbath Year, Jubilee. I mean, these were vital to the Jewish lifestyle and every godly Jewish home observed every one of those sacrifices and feasts if they were to be found pleasing to God. And that's another reminder that the law had its restrictions.

And the number seven played a big part. The number seven in the Bible, it speaks of perfection or completion. Passover lasted for seven days. Pentecost came seven weeks after Passover. And Pentecost lasted for seven days. During the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets and Booths and Atonement. Every seventh day was the Sabbath. And it was to be observed. Every seventh year was the Sabbatical Year where the crops rested and the land was refreshed. And every seven periods of seven years, that's every 49 years, was the year of Jubilee. And that was an incredible celebration.

Application

Yes, the Book of Leviticus has lost its punch today, but its application is just as present today as it was back then. And that is the way to have access to God is through the blood. And that's not of an animal, not of a bird, not of anything except one individual. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. God required that Jesus shed his blood. And when you and I came into a personal relationship with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we have access to God. We don't have to go through a priest. We have immediate access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Book of Leviticus give us a renewed and fresh appreciation for what it cost God himself, so that you and I could be brought into his forever family. And that was the sacrificial death and the shed blood of God's only begotten Son.

Let us love Jesus. Let us live for Jesus. And in all things in our life and through our life, may he have the preeminence. I'll see you in our next episode. As we deal with the Book of Numbers. You're really going to enjoy our time in the Book of Numbers. I'll see you then.

Corby LaCroix: This has been The Bible for Life Podcast. Thanks for joining us as we've walked through the Book of Leviticus. We can't wait to see you again next time. Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. We hope you're encouraged today. Remember, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for life.

Corby LaCroix: Welcome once again, to The Bible for Life Podcast, where it is our goal, our mission to lead and equip people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Today, Pastor Harrell tackles the often misunderstood book of Numbers and shows us how incredibly practical it actually is to our lives here today. We know you'll be blessed, so buckle up and let's go on a journey through this amazing book in God's word together. Thanks for joining us. Here's Pastor Ken Harrell.

Ken Harrell: Every one of us is on a journey towards spiritual maturity and while we would love it to be a non-stop, smooth sailing venture, the reality is most of us have experienced failure or disappointment, doubt, struggles in our lives. The truth is there may be some who are listening to this podcast and you're picking up the pieces of a tragic season in your life, or maybe you're going through something extremely painful right now. Maybe it's because of something that you allowed in your life that you shouldn't have or maybe it was really nothing that you did, but what happened to you.

I remember Debbie and I years ago, having lunch with Johnny Erickson, spending the afternoon with her. And I remember myself having dinner with Elizabeth Elliott and both of them told me the story of their journey. I mean, Johnny, she was a young adult diving into the Chesapeake Bay and hitting her head on the bottom and as a result in a split second, she becomes a quadriplegic for the rest of her life.

Elizabeth Elliott, married to Jim Elliot and Jim and four other individuals, they were missionaries to the Oka Indians and Jim Elliott, along with the others experienced death at the hands of the Oka Indians. And they just shared their journey. Listen, folks, there is no such thing as instant maturity, that's what the book of Numbers really shows us.

The book of Numbers is about a journey, but it didn't end happily ever after. It's the story of a quite frankly, a tragic pilgrimage, a group of people who knew better, but didn't live better. And they suffered the consequences because of a decision that they made in the crisis time in their lives.

Background to Numbers

Now, let me establish the background to the book of Numbers. If you've been following our podcast in the book of Genesis, when you get to the end of the book of Genesis, the Israelites had grown to a large number. Jacob's family who was living in Canaan, which is Israel today, they were experiencing a severe famine. And when the book closes the Jews, the Hebrews are moving in mass to Egypt, which is down South. And the reason is because they're in the midst of a severe famine and down in Egypt, there is food because God had sovereignly moved Joseph down there and Joseph, the son of Jacob now as the prime minister of Egypt and because of his wisdom and the decisions that he made there in Egypt, there's food and Jacob's family finds refuge. And they're delivered from the famine that they were experiencing, either that, or they would have died of starvation.

However, that dream of getting to Egypt, which they did, and that dream turned to ashes. In fact, it was a nightmare because 400 years later, there is now a Pharaoh who had no clue who Joseph was or how they had found favor with Pharaoh.

And this is the story of the book of Exodus. God told Moses to go back to Egypt and to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. And Moses brings His people out of Egypt under God's protection. When you get to the book of Leviticus, they're three months removed from Egypt and they end at the base of Mount Sinai where they spend a year. And while they're at the base of Mount Sinai, during that years time, God gave them the 10 commandments. They received it. I mean, from the literal finger of God, he etched into the tablets of stone, the 10 commandments, they received the blueprints to the tabernacle, and they were told whom to worship, how to worship. And they're even given a place to worship. And at the end of the book of Leviticus, the people are listening to the voice of God as He plans His next move.

The last book in the book of Leviticus says, "These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai." So when you flip over the next page in your Bible and you come to the book of Numbers, Numbers 1:1 begins with a word now, in other words, when is that? That's at the end of that present time. Numbers 1:1 says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt."

Now, notice the date, the first day of the second month of the second year. Second, from what point? After the Exodus. So they left Egypt, the Exodus has taken place. They get to Sinai, they've been there a year, at the beginning of the second month, after that year, they're waiting on God to give them directions. And He's about to tell them to begin a journey North, to Canaan, the promised land, the land that He promised to give them.

And at the beginning of Numbers, they're getting the people ready for the journey North to Canaan, back to where their forefathers lived under the family of Jacob. Now, Exodus 40:17 says this, "And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that tabernacle was raised up." In other words, the tabernacle was completed. Now, get this straight in your mind, it's the first day, of the first month, of the second year and the blueprints that God had given to him, they followed it and they finished the tabernacle on that date. And so it's the first day of the second month that God spoke to him. In other words, for a full month, they enjoyed worship. You see, that's the book of Leviticus. Leviticus taught them how to approach God, how a sinful person can know and love and fellowship with a holy God, that's what the book of Leviticus is all about. And we covered that in our last episode.

The Naming of Numbers

Well, where did they come up with the name for the book of Numbers? Numbers 1:2, God said, "Take a census of all the congregation of the children, of Israel by their families, by their father's houses, according to the number of names, every male individually." In other words, God was telling him, be very careful in numbering the people, count the males of each man 20 years and older. Why? Because God was getting ready to move them and logistics were very critical in the moving of that many people or if war breaks out. So you got to take organization, that's what's taking place.

But in verse 45, the Bible says, "So all were numbered of the children of Israel by their father's houses from 20 years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel, all who were numbered were 603,550."

So that's the first census that is taken. That's where you get the name for the book of Numbers. They're numbering all of the men, all of the people. And so there are now 603,550 people. That's not counting the tribe of Levi because they didn't go to battle because they were the priest and they served in the tabernacle verse 49 tells us that, of chapter one, "Only the tribe of Levi, you shall not number nor take a census of them among the children of Israel."

Now, what's interesting is that in the book of Numbers, there are two census in chapter 26 toward the end of the 40 years, there's a second census that's taken. Chapter 26:2, take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel from 20 years old and above by their father's houses, all who are able to go to war in Israel. And then verse 51 of that chapter says, "These are those who were numbered of the children of Israel, 601,730."

Well, that's a smaller number, in fact, it's 1,820 less. And you say, "Well, why?" Well, that's the story of the book of Numbers. You see the book of Numbers, you see God's judgment coming on His people and there are an enormous numbers of deaths. Let me show you something.

The Journey That Should Have Been 11 Days

The journey from Mount Sinai, where they had been for a year to Canaan took 11 days, Deuteronomy 1 tells us that. The Bible says, "It is 11 days journey from Horeb, by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea." 11 days, but it took them 40 years in order to get to the promised land, why? Numbers 14:34 says, "According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land 40 days for each day, you shall bear your guilt one year and namely 40 years and you shall know my rejection." God's judgment came upon Israel and they experienced one year for each day that the spies explored the land when Moses sent them over there.

The Structure of Numbers

From chapters one to chapters nine, they're at Sinai, Mount Sinai. They're there for several weeks. They're preparing for the journey that God is about to tell them about. And they're about to take, it's a time of excitement. They're dreaming. There's a lot of hope. They're told how to worship and how to remain pure and how to prepare for battle. In other words, in those first nine chapters of the book of Numbers, God prepared them for a journey, but from chapters 10 to 14 is just a few days. They get from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea and that's the first journey, but they get to the edge of Canaan in just a few days, they're about to enter into the promised land. And I'll come back to that later.

The final 22 chapters from chapter 15 to 36, the people are going in a circle, in the wilderness and they're going to spend 40 long years in the wilderness until they finally learn to trust God. And a new generation is born.

Chapter nine, verse 15 says this, "Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, from evening until morning, it was above the tabernacle, like the appearance of fire so it was always the cloud covered it by day, the appearance of fire by night." So get this in your mind, Israel, I mean, they never had to question the presence of God. Numbers 17:9 says, "Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey. And in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents."

I mean, even with a cloud and fire, they blew it because you see folks, you don't need a cloud and you don't need fire, you need faith. That's where they failed. And that's where you and I fail in our lives, in the faith to trust Him, to trust God.

The Journey Begins

Chapter 10:11 says, "Now it came to pass on the 20th day of the second month in the second year that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the testimony. Now, that's 20 days after chapter one, the cloud is lifted and they're on their way. And verse 12 says, "And the children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai on their journeys. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran," and that wilderness of Paran that is rough, hard, rocky, I mean, it's dry and harsh real estate. So they get to Paran the cloud stops there, and you know what their response is? They complain.

Chapter 11:1, "Now, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused, so the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." I mean, they complained, but you know what? That's what happens in our lives. That's what we do. Lord, let me know your will and I'll do it. And He reveals His will and if we don't like it, we begin to complain.

Complaining About Food

Well, in verse number four, the Bible tells us that they started to complain about the food. The Bible says, "Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, and the onions, the garlic, but now our hole is being dried up. There is nothing at all, except the manna before our eyes." I mean, they said, "All we have is manna." That was food that God miraculously gave them every day from heaven. You see folks it takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy heavenly food. And I'll tell you this, if you don't have a heavenly appetite, nothing God serves you is going to look good.

They said, "Send us meat." Well, let's look and see what God did. The Bible says in Numbers 11:31, "Now a wind went out from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp about a day's journey on this side and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp. And about two cubits above the surface of the ground," a cubit was 18 inches. And so the quail are three feet deep. God says you wanted meat, I gave it to you.

Chapter 11:32 says, "And the people stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day and gathered the quail. He who gathered least gathered 10 homers, or that was at least 50 bushels full of quail. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people. And the Lord struck the people with a very great plague." I'm reminded what the Bible says in the 106 Psalm "And He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul."

God gave them quail and that satisfy, you know why? Because their heart really wasn't trusting God. They wanted their own way. They wanted a little bit of Egypt and a little bit of Sinai and little bit of Kadesh-barnea and little bit of Canaan. Yeah, you give us that God, and we'll be satisfied. This book is so practical, this book of Numbers, but let me tell you, it went from bad to worse because in chapter 13, they come to Kadesh-barnea and the Bible says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one, a leader among them." So Moses did exactly what God said.

The Twelve Spies

Verse 17, "Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, go up this way into the South and go up into the mountains and see what the land is like. Whether the people who dwell there, in it, are strong or weak, few or many, whether the land they dwell in is good or bad. Whether the cities, they inhabit are like camps or strongholds, whether the land is rich or poor, whether they're foes they're not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now, the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

By the way, you see in verse number 23, where the Bible says, "Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes. And they carried, I mean, the cluster was so large, they carried it between two of the men, two of them on a pole. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.

That's the symbol, grapes, that was a symbol that the Israeli, [inaudible 00:19:46] is amused to have on the side of its curse, that they brought back fruit from the land. But let me tell you, they brought back something else. They brought back a heart of unbelief.

Versus 27 says, "Then they told him, in saying, when they got back, we went to the land where you sent us, it truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large. And moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South, the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.

And they gave the children of Israel, a bad report of the land, which they had spied out saying, the land through which we had gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great statue, there we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak, they came from giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so were we in their sight.

And so they cast a vote 10 of the spies that Moses sent out said, "No, let's stay. Let's stay here. Let's not cross over." But Joshua and Caleb said, "We're going in, let's go."

Chapter 14:1, "So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron and all the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in the wilderness. Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword?"

I mean, God said, when you go to Canaan, He said, you're going to a land that I've promised you, I'll give it to you. So folks why are they voting? I'll tell you why they're voting because they compared, those 10 spies, they compared themselves to the giants. They didn't compare the giants to God. And when you do that in your life, and I do that in my life, when we compare what we're going through, the giants that we face to ourselves, then we're living life from the horizontal. And you know the results, the result that they experience was God's judgment.

God's Judgment

God said in Numbers 14:27, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, who complain against me? I've heard the complaints, which the children of Israel make against me say to them, as I live says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing so I will do to you, the carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in the wilderness.

All of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above, except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneht and Joshua, the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land, which I swore I would make you dwell in."

Folks, as we come to the end of the book of Numbers, let me remind us, when God says go, that's not a multiple choice, we go. You break down the book of Numbers into those three sections. Let me give you an application of this. In that first section, they're anticipating, they're dreaming, in the second section, there's unbelieving and there's complaining. And then in the third section they're finally trusting God, but it's a little too late because by the thousands upon thousands, they died during that 40 year wandering in the wilderness.

Three Lessons from Numbers

Let me give you three things, I would encourage you to take the time and jot these down because they're three valuable lessons that we can glean from this book of Numbers.

The first one is this, complainant is usually contagious, and I'll tell you, it affects others with the same disease. You show me someone that's a complainer and I'll show you someone who's contagious. And the devil loves to use that complaining. But if anyone ought to have victory over complaining, it's the born again, child of God. And I just want to encourage you, if that happens to be a part of your life, if there's a propensity to complain or to grumble, like the children of Israel did the God, if you don't like the circumstances that you find yourself in and you're complaining, I would encourage you, don't do it.

Second lesson, doubting can be disastrous. See God promised them, God said the land's yours, I've given it to you, it's the promised land. But when those spies went over, those 10 came back, not Joshua and Caleb, but the other 10, they came back and they just doubted and it was contagious and it spread throughout the camp.

And it can be disastrous because you know what? They lost a whole generation of adult men and others during those 40 years in the wilderness. God said, nobody above this age, save Joshua and Caleb are going to get into the promise land. No one's going to get into the promised land. All of those adult men died because of their doubting.

Last thing I would tell you is this, wandering is always humbling, for whatever reason you find yourself in, it's like you're wandering in the wilderness, that's a very humbling experience. In fact, over in the book of Deuteronomy, I think it's chapter eight, the Bible tells us that rather than taking that 11 day journey, it took them 40 years to get there. And what God was doing during that 40 years is He was humbling Israel. And now Moses is standing with the new generation 40 years later, and God is saying to them, trust me, I know what I'm doing.

And I want to close this episode on the book of Numbers by just reiterating those words God said, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." And whatever you're facing, whatever you will face in your life remember those words from God, Trust me I know what I'm doing.

Corby LaCroix: We sincerely hope you've been blessed by this episode of The Bible for Life Podcast as Pastor Harrell has walked us through the book of Numbers. Be sure to check back as we explore the book of Deuteronomy in the next lesson, but until then, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's The Bible for Life.

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‍Corby LaCroix: Welcome. Once again, everybody to "The Bible for Life Podcast." There is nothing more amazing than God's word. That's why it's our mission to make it come alive to you today because it's our goal to lead and equip you in a growing relationship with Jesus. In today's episode, pastor Ken Harrell takes us through the book of Deuteronomy. If you've ever wanted a study on the book of Deuteronomy, that's easy to understand and is so applicable to your life today, then you're in the right place. We're so glad you're with us. Here's pastor Harrell.

Ken Harrell: As we look at the book of Deuteronomy, I want to remind us that rather than going verse by verse, our objective is to gain context and a better understanding of the overarching themes that will emerge in this book.

We all face times in our life where we need counsel or advice for one thing or another. When you go from high school to college and you leave home maybe for the first time, or an individual goes through a career change in their life, or we move from being single to married life, these are transitional periods, a tragic loss of a parent.

When you go through these kinds of transitions, we all need counsel. A young man or a young lady leaves home and they go into military service, you need counsel, you need advice. Deuteronomy is a book of specific counsel and advice that's given right before a big transition in the lives of the people of Israel.

This book was addressed to the people of Israel at a vital time. You see, they had experienced 40 years in the wilderness led by God, by a cloud by day and a fire by night. They've had the same leader, Moses. God gave him manna. God gave them quail to eat, and they're about to enter Canaan and they've never been there before, at least for 500 years.

The land of the Canaanites, well, they're idolaters, they're immoral, they're unbelieving, they're corrupt, degenerate people. God says, you're mine. You're my people. Don't lose what sets you apart, what makes you. Don't compromise the distinctives of your life because you're going into a new land, and as you go, I want you to remain the same. Remember who's you are. What God does is he gives them counsel and advice.

Stop, Look and Listen

I remember when I was in elementary school, Lafayette School there in Lincoln Park, Michigan, I was on the safety patrol for a short period of time. I remember they made you memorize, stop, look and listen. Before you cross the street, use your eyes, your ears, and then use your feet to walk across the street. Those three words are what I want us to carry through this time in our study on Deuteronomy.

Stop, look and listen, because God is saying to the children of Israel, you are about to enter into the biggest transition of your life. You're going to cross over Jordan and finally get into the land of Canaan and I want you to stop and look back. I want you to look up and then consider my holiness, who I am. Then I want you to listen to me because I want to warn you about the future.

Background Information

The Name: The name Deuteronomy simply means second law. It's not a meaningless, just repetition of the same law, but rather a concise summary of that law. God has led his people to the edge of Canaan. Then he told Moses, Moses, you get them alone, and you emphasize, you underscore some very important principles of my law. The reason for this is that they're going into a new land and they could quickly forget. Life is going to be easier even though they don't realize. It's going to bring all sorts of temptations once they get in to Canaan and God doesn't want them to slip into the lifestyle of the Canaanites, so they must be reminded. God tells Moses of my word. I want you to emphasize the law. That's what Deuteronomy means.

The Location: Where are they when this book begins? Well, you find that in the first couple of verses of chapter one of Deuteronomy, these are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of Jordan in the wilderness. In verse five he says, "On this side of Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law." They're in the land of Moab. They're right there at the edge of Jordan, and they're just about to cross over and invade and conquer in God's power.

Now the location is significant. Don't miss this, because they've been here before. If you recall, in our study in the book of numbers, they came right up to the land of Canaan to Kadish Barnea in the land of Moab. That's when Moses sent out the spies, 12 of them. But when they came back, 10 of them came back and said, "We can't take the land." They're giants. Even though God said they could take those giants, they didn't. As a result, judgment came upon them and they've wandered in the wilderness and it's been 40 years now. Every one at 20 years and above died. Now there's a whole new generation and the fact is they're right back where they started. What's been happening is for all those years, they literally were going in circles, setting up grave sites as a constant reminder of their unbelief.

The Timing: Now what's the time of this instruction that is to be given? Well, verse number three says, "Now it came to pass in the 40th year and the 11 month on the first day of the month that Moses spoke to the children of Israel." Well 40th year, 40th from what? 40th from the Exodus, from the time of the Exodus. Remember, as you go through the old Testament, the dating always goes back to the Exodus. Since the Exodus, now it's the 40th year in the 11th month and the first day that Moses began to instruct his people.

Now, when you get into the book of Joshua, you find the next date that's given is in Joshua 4:19. The Bible says, "Now the people came up from Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho." The 10th day of the first month of the next year. The first act of the invasion into the land of Canaan, they crossed the Jordan river.

Now, if you take from the 11th month in the first day to the 10th day of the first month of the next year, that's 70 days. But in order to really understand what time it is, in the book of Deuteronomy when you get to the end of it in chapter 34:8-9, the Bible says, "And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab three days. The days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Now, Joshua, the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel's heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses." There was a 30-day period of mourning for Moses's death. If you subtract 30 from 70, 40 days, that's the time that Deuteronomy was declared. For five weeks they listened to Moses, God's man, the prophet.

Now, I want to stop here. I want to ask you as you listen to the rest of this podcast, I want you to listen through these ears like Moses is speaking to you just before you're going into the greatest transition of your life. Listen this way.

The Theme: Well, the fourth thing is what's the theme? Well, the theme of the book of Deuteronomy is to make God the center of their lives, with an undying loyalty. When you get into chapter six, you find this. In chapter six... In fact, these are the key verses I believe in the entire book of Deuteronomy. In chapter six verse number four, the Bible says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength."

Then God says, don't keep these to yourselves. In verse six, "These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and I'm the gates."

Why all of this? Because they're going into the land and to a culture where this is not going to be true. They're about to get into Canaan with the Canaanites and they're going into a completely different culture.

Some of you experienced a little this, maybe when you went to college. Maybe you attended a Christian high school or you were homeschool and all of a sudden you get to a state university and it's a whole different animal, a whole different culture, a whole different experience. I recently was talking with one of the young men in our church who is now in the military. We talked to a few months before he left. I shared with him just be alert ahead of time of the dangers when you get there, because you're going to wind up in a barracks with men that don't know Christ, and you are forever going to be outnumbered. I shared with them, you have a decision either to be a salt shaker and shape a few lives for Christ or simply give in and let them shape you.

He had already determined before he entered of the way that he was going to live. In fact, he sent me a picture of a tattoo that he had placed on his body and there was a cross and there was a flag. In that tattoo, was the verse 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Watch stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." He had already made a decision because he knew he was going into an environment, a culture, a situation that he had never been before and it was just going to be a whole lot different that it wasn't going to be like the home where he's he grew up. The last words I shared with him is, you just be a witness for Christ.

The Three Main Sections

Now, as we go through the book of Deuteronomy, there are three things I want you to remember. First of all, remember, stop, then look, and then listen.

Section 1: Stop and Look Back (Chapters 1-4)

The first section of the book of Deuteronomy, God says, "Stop, remember your past, God's faithfulness." The first four chapters, one, two, three, and four, Moses basically is just tracing their steps in past days. He says, "Stop and look back." You see that in chapter one in verse number six, Moses said, "The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, that's Sinai, Mount Sinai saying, you have dwelt long enough at this mountain, turn and take your journey and go to the mountain of the Amorites. I have set the land before you, go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them."

40 years earlier, they were in the same spot. God said, "Go in and take it. It's yours." But they didn't. Folks, there will be times when God brings a bad memory to our mind. We like to forget him. There's some things in our life we just want to forget, but God wants us to remember. He wants us to remember the day or the days in the wilderness. If for no other reason, as a motivation not to go back.

Now, don't forget this. Moses says, "God, faithfully stayed with us even though we turned." In verse number 26 of Deuteronomy one, he says, "Nevertheless, you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and you complained in your tents and said, because Lord hates us he brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go?"

Verse 29, then I said to you, do not be terrified or afraid of him. The Lord your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt, before your eyes. Yet, verse 32, for all of that, you did not believe the Lord your God who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go in a fire by night and in a cloud by day. The Lord heard the sound of your words and was angry and took an oath in saying, surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers." That is except for Caleb and Joshua, the two faithless spies. God says, "The rest of you, will die in the wilderness."

Chapters two to four, Moses retraces those steps. He tells them two things. First of all, he says, "Remember the faithfulness of God, even in your failure." Secondly, "Remember the faithfulness of God, even in your unbelief. God was faithful to you, even though you weren't faithful to him, even when you didn't believe God was faithful."

The truth is we can all look back and see our lives and times in our lives when we failed God and we had unbelief. The truth is folks, don't forget this, God never abandoned us. He may have reproved us and disciplined us, but he never abandoned us. One of the motivating factors for living for God in the future is the reminder of those days when we didn't and the consequences that occurred.

I remember David before he took that sling and a few of those stones in the valley of Elah, where Goliath was. Just before that, he was in a conversation with King Saul and David said this, in 1 Samuel 17:37. He said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." What was David doing? He was drawing from the past. You see the faithfulness of God, yesterday is proof that God's going to be faithful in our lives today. You may need that right now. As you're listening to this podcast, what you're facing, you may just need to stop and remember, look back in your life at how faithful God was to you at times.

Section 2: Look Up at God's Holiness (Chapters 5-26)

Now, when we move into the next section from chapter five really through chapter 26, it deals with the holiness of God and the emphasis is on his holiness. What Moses is saying is stop and look up. Chapter five in verse number one, "Moses called all Israel and said to them, hero Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful and observe them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb at Sinai. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time."

What did he say? What he does. If you read from verse six down to verse 21, he reviews the commandments of God, the second law. Moses said, "Listen, now that we're back where we started, let's remind ourselves what God says and get this, God's word... Listen, folks don't ever forget this. God's word, His truth is timeless." Verse 15 of chapter five is a key verse where the Bible says, "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and God brought you out."

The rest of the section if you were to look, that word remember, is found 12 times in all, but three of them, God is saying, "Remember something that's gone wrong." The reason is that God wanted them to remember their own tendency to weakness. Why? So they would be strong in his might not their own.

Now you can summarize these chapters with these three statements. Let me give them to you. The first one is this, blessings accompany obedience, blessings accompany obedience. If we obey God, His blessings come us. The second statement is that compromises weaken distinctives. When the Lord gives you a standard and then you begin to compromise, you weaken you're distinctive. Then the third statement is that I want to give you is, consequences follow disobedience. Let me repeat those. Blessings accompany obedience, compromises weaken distinctives, and consequences follow disobedience.

Let me illustrate this. In chapter 11:13, it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart, with all your soul, then I'll give you rain for your land in its season. The early rain and the latter rain that you may gather in your grain and your oil and a new wine. I will send grass into your fields for your livestock that you may eat and be filled."

Now, he says, "Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside to serve other gods and worship them. That's a compromise and here are the consequences. God says, verse 17, "Lest the Lord's anger to be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain and the land yield no produce and you perish quickly from the good land, which the Lord is giving you.

Now, let's apply this to our lives. Listen carefully. We're living in a world where we are always going to be outnumbered. This world system is slick. It's designed to get us to live lives of compromise to be watered down Christians. They do it. The world system, the enemy, Satan, he can describe his system really how he comes at us in four words, money, fame, power, and pleasure. Every temptation that comes from that system, comes from one of those. Let me illustrate these, money.

Get rich quick, get as much as you can, keep it, hoard it. That's why the Bible says, "The love of money, not money, but the love of money is the root of all evil, fame." Build yourself up, man. It's all about me. Make a name for yourself. Sacrifice whatever you have, even sacrifice your character if it's necessary. Power. Let's just control. I got to be in control of people and intimidate. There are books that are written telling folks how to do this kind of stuff. Pleasure. Do it at any cost. Have fun. Go eat, drink and be merry.

You know what, the devil is so slick because it comes with a subtle conformity and we don't even realize that it's taking place. You see folks, we're surrounded by a media that's telling us how to live, what to eat, what to drink, where to go on vacation, where to go, what to wear, how to live. Listen, this book of Deuteronomy is as relevant as today. God says, "As you live in a system like that, don't forget me." So stop and look back and remember my hand in your life. Even in times of failures and on the basis of that, look up, today right now and say, Lord, I want to get your direction for my life. I want you to know what I'm doing and what I'm thinking. I want to know that it pleases you more than anyone else on the earth.

Folks, that sounds so easy. You listen to it in a message, maybe at church or on this podcast, and then you go to work or you go into the university, you go into the high school and it's a whole new story because you're going to places where the Lord and His will are not cared for. Not emulated, not obeyed. That's really where the rubber meets the road in our life. That's where the relevance of the book of Deuteronomy comes home to rest. If you're a businessman or businesswoman or whatever career you have, I want to ask you a question right now. Answer it honestly in your heart. Are you able to say the principles of my life are based on scripture? These principles of God's word. My home is based on that. My lifestyle is based on that.

Section 3: Listen to God's Warnings (Chapters 27-34)

Well, before the book of Deuteronomy closes, Moses says one more thing. He said, stop. He said, look in the past. God's faithfulness, look up. Don't just look back, look up. God is holy. Then he says, I want you to look to the future. Listen carefully to God's warnings about the future. He really does it in two sections in chapter 28, the first six verses and then later on in chapter 30. In chapter 28, the first six verses and then later on in chapter 30. In chapter 28:1, God says two things through Moses to the people. "The land is yours, possess it. The Lord is God obey him."

Chapter 28:1, "Now it came to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord, your God." Just listen to the blessings. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of the ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of the cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. Hebrew colloquialism for a life of prosperity, God is saying, I promise you my blessing if you walk with me.

Then he says in verse number 15, "But it shall come to pass if you do not obey." In other words, a willful act. If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully, all of his commandments, cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country, cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land and the increase of your cattle and the offspring of the floods. Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed you shall be when you go out. In other words, what Moses is saying, your life will be marked by God's discipline.

When I think and I look of all the years that I've been in ministry and I think of people who have willfully chosen to walk against God and away from God, and we all struggle so let's put us in the same arena. Much to my disappointment, there are times in my life where I've willfully disobeyed him and you have too. But one of the motivations that catch me from moving in that arena are the times that I've spent with people that have lingered in disobedience. I think of the misery in their lives. The Bible says folks in the book of Proverbs 13:15, "The way of the unfaithful is hard." Listen, if you're listening to this and you're on the verge of making a decision to change your lifestyle and take you away from God, I beg of you, stop, look and listen to what God is saying. Take him seriously. If you know Christ as your savior. You're His, man. You have been bought with a price. You don't have the right. I don't have the right to say, I'll do it my way.

Well, verse number 15, he says, "See, I have set before you." It's like a finale to the book of Deuteronomy. "See, I have set before you today, life and good, death and evil." Look at the contrast. He says, "I have before you a choice." In verse 16, "In that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways." Do you see how he's repeating? You see how important this is to love the Lord our God? To walk in his way, to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments that you may live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you in that land.

But, if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, God says, "I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. That you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess it. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing."

I want to ask you to think about your life. Please, just for a moment, look back for a few minutes and give God thanks for his faithfulness. Regardless of how you've lived, in spite of what you have done. Look at today right now and in your own words, tell the Lord, tell him you're available. Tell him you take him seriously. That's the book of Deuteronomy as Moses instructs, the people who for 40 years wandered in the wilderness, all of those grave sites, they had to dig as a constant reminder that folks didn't listen to God. May that not be said of you and me. May we be individuals that's seek desperately to love Jesus with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our everything.

Corby LaCroix: Hey, thanks once again for joining us on this edition of "The Bible for Life Podcast." Be sure and subscribe and share with your friends. We'd love to reach as many people as possible with the truth of God's word. Take care and until next time, remember, for the issues of life, for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for Life.

‍Corby LaCroix: Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a good spiritual leader? Do you desire to lead with humility and passion in a God-centered way so that you can impact those in your sphere of influence? Well, if you answered yes to any of these questions, then this episode of The Bible for Life Podcast is just for you, as senior pastor, Ken Harrell takes us through the Book of Joshua and highlights truths for us that can help us do just that in our daily lives. We are so glad you've chosen to join us today. Let's jump right in. Here's Pastor Harrell.

Ken Harrell: What does it mean to be a spiritual leader, to have spiritual influence over someone or some ones? Do you have to have your life altogether? A bunch of charisma? Maybe a really sharp personality? Do you have to have the ability to speak to large groups of people? I mean, do you have to have it all together emotionally and spiritually?

None of those things. But I'll tell you something that is definitely required if you're going to have a spiritual influence over other people, and that is, there will be a direct relationship between you and the Word of God. There'll be a passion for scriptures, and you'll be known as you impact people in your sphere of influence. People will discover your love for God's Word. You see, there's no way to separate a spiritual leader from intake of the Word of God.

Well, we've come through the first five books in the Old Testament, the Law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and in this episode, we're dealing with the Book of Joshua.

Joshua is a book of victory. I mean, they had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and they moved from the heels of defeat to great victory. The people of God enter a new land, and they settle in enemy territory.

Background Information

Let me give you some introductory matters, as we get into the Book. First of all, Joshua is the main character. He's commissioned in chapter one, and he dies in chapter 24. The book was written around 1400 BC, and it was written by Joshua himself. It reads like a journal, not a diary, but a journal. You see, there's a difference between a diary and a journal. A diary is a record of what you do. A journal is a record of what God is doing in your life, or through you.

Let's deal a little bit with the background to Joshua's life first. In chapter one, verse one, the book opens and says, "After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses's assistant, saying, 'Moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore, rise and go over this Jordan, you and all of this people to the land, which I am giving to them, the children of Israel.'"

Now, why would God address Joshua so directly as it related to Moses? Well, that's because, as you study the background of Joshua, you find out that there is a direct link with him and Moses. Back in the Book of Exodus 24, the Bible says in verse 12, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone and the law and the commandments, which I have written, that you may teach them.'"

Now notice verse 13. "So Moses arose with his assistant, Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God." Do you notice that? That Joshua was Moses's assistant or servant. In other words, he was trained at the feet of Moses, under his wing. I mean, the man that spoke face-to-face with God trained Joshua.

In Exodus 33, you see where Joshua stayed near Moses, even in crisis times. In Exodus 33:11, "so the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend." I mean, face-to-face. I mean, Moses's face glowed with the shekhinah glory of God. And the rest of that verse says, "And he would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle." I mean, Joshua said, "I'm staying here, Moses. I mean, anyone that talks face-to-face with God, count me in. I'm going to attach myself to him," and, you know, that's one of the reasons that Joshua was used greatly.

Let me just pause here and apply it to our life. I want to encourage you to spend time and be close with people, people that you greatly respect. People that have a walk with God, people that are close to God, not by what they say, but what they say and how they live. There's a direct connect, there's not a contradiction, and glean from them. You know, that's the way that they used to train men for ministry. They would gather men, and they would be like instruments in the making.

Well, that's how Joshua was trained. Well, when you get to the last, if you get to Deuteronomy 31, it's the end of Moses's life, and who's going to be the replacement? In chapter 31, verse 14, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Moses, behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting that I may inaugurate him. So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting."

Then in verse 23, "Then He inaugurated Joshua, the son of Nun, and said, 'Be strong and of good courage, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you." I mean, can you grab how Joshua must have felt?

Joshua's Commission

Now when you get to Joshua 1, here's the setting. Moses has died, they've mourned over his death for 30 days, and God says to Joshua, "Man, get back on your feet. The mourning's over. Let's move on. Let's move the people into Canaan." In fact, verse two simply says, "Moses, my servant is dead." I can imagine Josh is thinking, "Well, where's my spiritual leadership? I mean, to whom do I turn? Who am I going to turn to when things get rough?" What God is communicating to Joshua is that, "You can't live in Moses's shadow. I've removed him. Now you look to me and to no one else."

Notice the promise in verse number three, "Every place that the sole of your feet will tread, Joshua, I have given you. As I said to Moses," and then He describes the parameters of the land in area in verse number four. Then as Joshua's knees begin to knock, God said, "Don't be intimidated, Joshua." Verse five, "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. And as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you, or I will not fail you, nor forsake you. It's yours, Joshua. Claim it by faith."

I like what A. W. Tozer said in that small book, The Divine Conquest. In the first chapter, Tozer said, and I quote, "We cannot think rightly of God, until we begin to think of Him as always being there and there first." You see, to Joshua, Moses and the God of Moses had become blended in his thinking. But listen to me, carefully, folks. Nothing of God dies when a man of God dies. Being human, we're prone to get our eyes on humans, and when they let us down or when they're taken from us, even in death, it's like something of God is lost if we don't watch it. God says, "Joshua, don't let that happen. Moses is dead. Now go. I have put you in the place of leadership. Now go."

I remember the day that my dad died. It was a dark day for me. I mean, my father was the closest man in my life and had more of an impact on my life than any other man ever. I was now faced with the reality that he's gone, and for a little bit, it was like something of God was gone. But God began to communicate to me, "As I was with him, I'll be with you, Ken. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you," and I was reminded that nothing of God dies when a person of God dies.

Now God says to Joshua in verse six and He uses the word inheritance and that word and it's found over a couple dozen times. In verse number six, the Lord said, "Joshua, be strong and of good courage for, to this people, you see shall divide, as an inheritance, the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all of the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left."

Verse eight, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then, you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

You see, spiritual influence, folks, doesn't happen without a time in the Word of God, and when the Lord said, "for then," when was He talking about? When you have done what? When you have done all that is written in it. You see, obedience is a key in spiritual influence. And He says, "Then I'll make your way prosperous, and you'll have good success." What does that mean? Does that mean you'll be rich? Does that mean that if you have a business, that you'll have a prosperous business? No. What it means is that you'll be in the nucleus of His will. You'll have a God confidence. I mean, you'll take a challenge that comes to you whatever is thrown at you.

Then a final reminder from God in verse number nine. He says, "Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage?" And if you read in the first chapter, you'll notice that in verse six, seven and nine, that same phrase, "Be strong and courageous." Why is that? Because if you're going to be a spiritual leader, if you're going to have... Listen, you're going to have critics. You're going to have enemies. I mean, they will find fault, and they will communicate that fault in you and to you, and you need to be reminded. Don't be afraid. Don't tremble. Don't be dismayed.

I think of Jeremiah. He was a young man when he was called to be a prophet, and I'm telling you in Jeremiah's day, that was the least desirable job of his day to be a prophet. God tells Jeremiah, says, "Jeremiah, I've formed you in the womb. You are my spokesman." In Jeremiah 1:8, He said, "Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of their faces." You see, people reveal back to you through their faces, and God told Jeremiah, he said, "Jeremiah, if you're going to lead, you're going to get faces, but just keep moving on."

The Battle of Jericho

Well, in chapter six of the Book of Joshua, the battle begins. You know, I can imagine some of the people, they probably thought, "Moses would never have left us like this." I got to tell you, as you read through chapter six, it's almost like this strategy, you find it in the fiction section of a library. But what I want to ask you to do, folks, is this, listen to this like you've never heard it before, okay?

Here's the setting. Joshua and the children of Israel, they've crossed the Jordan River, they've invaded the land, and they come to the strategic city of Jericho. Their plan is to go in, and then go to the south, and then back to the north. In Joshua 6:1, now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. I mean, they, they knew the children of Israel were there and the people just locked themself in that fortified city of Jericho because they were afraid of the children of Israel.

I can imagine when Joshua saw that, he's probably thinking of the strategy. "Well, let's see, what weapons am I going to need? I'm going to need ladder. I'm going to need rope if we're going to get over those walls." And the Lord says to Joshua, "Joshua, I've got a plan, and here's the plan." Verse two of chapter six, "And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I've given Jericho into your hand, its kings and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you should do for six days and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns for the Ark. But the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet that all the people shall shout with a great shout. Then the wall of the city will fall down, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

I can just imagine Joshua thinking, "Wait, I think you've left something out, God. I mean, what about spears? What about ladders? What about ropes? What about weapons?" I've got to tell you, folks, I absolutely love this passage because it is so anti-human thinking. You see, if you want victory in your life, folks, you got to demonstrate faith. I love that old song, Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory. Well, you see what God was doing with Joshua and the people is He wants to make once again that indelible impression on his mind that He is omnipotent and that He wants all the glory. He wants to remind them that He separated the Red Sea, where they could walk across on dry land. Just like He fed them with manna and quail, as they wandered in the wilderness, just as He miraculously allowed them to cross the Jordan River, God says, "I want all of the glory."

That's why the Apostle Paul said to you and me in Romans 15, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope." You see, God wants to remind us there is nothing that He can't do, and that He wants all the glory.

Chapter six, verse six says, "Then Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priest and said to them, 'Take up the Ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord.' And he said to the people, 'Proceed and march around the city and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of the Lord.'"

Then look at what happens, as you slip down to verse number 20. So the people shouted when the priest blew the trumpets and it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. I wonder what Joshua is thinking.

You know, let me just pause here and say that the most awesome moment in the life of the Christian is to be right in the middle of an answered prayer. I mean, right when it happens. That wall fell down flat. How? It had to be pushed down, and God's the one that made it happen. I mean, what an incredible experience. But you know what? They didn't learn the lesson because when you get to chapter 7, there's a defeat. They move into a little suburb called Ai, and they just sent a few troops, and they failed. You know why? Because they weren't walking by faith. Because one of them took a Babylonian garment and God said, "You don't touch any of that stuff, that silver and gold." And God says, "That goes to my treasury." But Achan took that stuff.

Let me just pause here and say never presume on the victory because, folks, God's promises, I mean, it requires obedience every step of the way.

The Conquest Complete

Well, when you get to chapter 11, you come to the climax of the book. Chapter 11, verse 23, "So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war."

I want you to see something that Joshua lived with and you will, too. When God begins to use you in a special way and in people's lives, you got to be aware of this. Back in chapter 27, there's a direct link between Joshua 6:27 and 11:23. The Bible says in Joshua 6, "So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout all the country." Not the Lord's fame, but Joshua's fame. You see, people have a tendency to link victory with another person. It should have been the Lord's fame spread throughout all the land, and you've got to deal with that as a spiritual leader or someone that has influence over someone else spiritually. You can't listen, folks, you can't become enamored of your own stuff.

Well, Joshua, never did. In chapter 11, verse 23, "So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war."

You know what you never read? You never read where Joshua gave himself a particular spot or any favored treatment. You see, Joshua is one of the few men in scripture where there's no sin mentioned about him.

Overview of the Book

Well, let me break down the book. Chapters one to five, the land is invaded, okay? They invade the land. Chapter six to 12, there's the subjection of the land. There's the central campaign first, where they came over and took Jericho and the central area. Then they went on the southern campaign, and then they move up into the northern campaign, and that had lesser intensity. In chapter 12, there's finally a summary of the defeated kings, and when you get to chapter 13, Joshua begins distributing the land to the 12 tribes. That's basically, folks, the balance of the Book of Joshua.

Caleb's Example

But what I want to do, before this episode of our podcast ends, is that want to pull out a little vignette from the distribution of the land. I want to center our attention on one man, and his name is Caleb. Let me give you a background to Caleb.

Caleb was one of the two spies that Moses sent out on the promised land that came back with a faithful report. Ten of them said no, and that's why they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. But Caleb, along with Joshua, he was one of the two spies that brought back that good faithful report. And when it came time to pick a replacement for Moses, the Lord didn't pick Caleb. He picked Joshua. How would you have felt? Would you have felt overlooked?

Caleb wasn't bothered by that. In Joshua 14:6, just listen as I read this. "Then the children of Judah came to Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, 'You know the Word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and me and Kadesh Barnea? I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brother, who went up with me, made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord, my God.'"

"So Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever because you have wholly followed the Lord, my God. And now behold,' now don't miss this, 'and now,' verse 10, 'behold, the Lord has kept me alive as he said these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am this day, 85 years old, and yet I'm as strong this day as I was the day Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.'"

'Now,' and here's where Caleb makes his special request in verse 12, 'Now, therefore, give me this mountain on which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.'"

What Caleb was saying is that the Anakim, they were the giants, and there were fortified cities. I mean, Caleb didn't care. Do you notice there's a total absence of jealousy with Caleb? His total focus was on the Lord.

Let me say to those who are listening that are up later in years of life, though it's good for even those who are not up in the latter years of life, listen to what J. Oswald Sanders said as he talked about Caleb. I quote, "As we near old age, do we lose the spirit of aggression? Do we become hesitant to risk a step of faith for God? Do we shrink from the rigors of battle? Perhaps we should remove our slippers and attack some menacing mountain in which the enemies of God are entrenched." What J. Oswald Sander was saying is that, "You know, don't retire from the spiritual life."

Longfellow wrote, "It is too late. Ah, nothing is too late. Cato studied Greek at 80. Sophocles wrote the Grand Oedipus when he was more than 80 years of age. Chaucer wrote to Canterbury Tales in his 60s."

Joshua's Final Challenge

Well, Joshua at an old age dies and in Joshua 24:14, Joshua said, "Now, therefore, fear of the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord." I mean, Joshua is an old man, and he's challenging young men. In verse number 15, Joshua says, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river or the god of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

I'm reminded of someone over 200 years ago in our country. He was in Richmond, Virginia, and I believe he drew his thoughts from verse 15 when Patrick Henry said, "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, all mighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

Closing Applications

Folks, that's the Book of Joshua. But as I close, let me make two applications. The first one is this, don't ever forget what God promises, God accomplishes. That may not be in your time or my time. That's why the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He's made everything beautiful in His time." If He says it, He will do it. He will do it.

The second thing I want to say is this, His abundant provisions do not diminish the importance of obedience. All the way through the Book of Joshua they had to obey. And let me say in closing, all the way through your life and my life, it is imperative that we obey, trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

I look forward to our next episode, as we deal with the Book of Judges. See you then.

Corby LaCroix: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The Bible for Life Podcast. Tell all your friends about it so that we can join together with you and pursue God's Word together. Until next time, for the issues of life for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for Life.

‍Corby LaCroix: Welcome to the Bible for Life Podcast, where today we're looking at the Book of Judges. Senior Pastor Ken Harrell is about to take a book that you might not know a ton about and make it come to life with some simple but applicable truths. We're glad you've chosen to listen to our podcast today. So without any further delay, here's Pastor Harrell.

Ken Harrell: I've always loved the subject of history and I remember years ago reading one historian where he talked about the study of civilizations, and he said that the duration for a civilization is around 200 years. And what was interesting is he said that they all had this same downward spiral. Now, just track with me. He said it began with bondage, and from to bondage to spiritual faith, and from spiritual faith to great courage, from great courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance.

Now, watch the erosion from abundance to leisure, from leisure to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, complacency to apathy, apathy to dependence, and dependence to weakness, and weakness back to bondage. It starts and stops with bondage.

When you get to the Book of Judges, if the Lord gave me a giant eraser and allowed me to just remove one book from the Bible, it would be for me the Book of Judges. And the reason is that the Book of Judges best illustrates the depravity of mankind. I mean, it's not a book that on a cold winter night you want to sit by a fire and just read.

Well, we've come to the seventh book in the Old Testament, and I just want to remind you, we don't want to get lost in the trees and the leaves and the limbs. We want to see the whole forest so let's not get ourselves bogged down in needless details, because if we do with, we won't be able to survey the Bible.

Background Information

So let's begin with some interesting introductory things. The name, well, it's self-explanatory. Judges, they were men and women raised up to deliver people from bondage.

A judge was not like what you might think today sitting in behind a bench in a courtroom with a gavel in his hand. But rather a judge was like a warrior moreso than legal proceedings, though at times he was involved or she was involved in legal proceedings. At times, a counselor like a priest or a prophet. But at no time, did they oversee litigation.

For instance, Gideon. Gideon was a rugged individual raised up to be a fighter and he took on a nation that had overtaken his people, the Jews. The word judge simply means deliver. So judges were strong leaders that God raised up to bring deliverance. The book is about 300 years from start to finish it. It went from 1375 to 1075 BC, and those 300 years were miserable years. And what you see in the Book of Judges is there's seven cycles where people choose to turn their back on God.

Contrast Between Joshua and Judges

Now, what I'd like to do right now is I'd like to see the contrast between the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges. They both begin within an obituary and it's important because of who has just died. In Joshua chapter one, it begins, "After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, "Moses, my servant is dead." Judges chapter one, verse one, "Now, after the death of Joshua, it came to pass." So you begin the Book of Joshua with the death of Moses and you begin the Book of Judges with the death of Joshua.

And I bring that to our attention to remind us of something I did in an earlier episode in this podcast, and what I want you to remember is this, when the man of God dies, nothing of God dies. When the man of God dies, nothing of God dies. Let me show you the contrast.

Joshua vs. Judges:

• In the Book of Joshua, Joshua is the book of victory. Judges, a book of defeat.
• In Joshua, there's a motivation to fight. Judges, they're satisfied with the status quo. They just want to maintain.
• In Joshua, people are mobilized. In Judges, they're settled.
• Joshua, there is a unity, there's a determination. In Judges, there's disunity, anarchy.
• In Joshua, the land was yet to be conquered, and throughout the book, you see them conquering the land. You get to the Book of Judges, the land is theirs.
• The Book of Joshua, it's a first generation of people and they're pioneers and their warriors. In Judges, there's a second generation and they don't know how to fight, and they don't even want to.
• The Book of Joshua, there's patriotism and a national zeal. And in the Book of Judges, there's a national indifference.

The theme of the Book of Judges, I mean, it's just all throughout the book you see a word, failure, failure, failure. And the theme is failure through compromise.

The Key Problem: No King

And throughout these 21 chapters, depravity is on display. I mean, people were satisfied in the Book of Judges to sit back and just experience the status quo. But here's the problem, in Judges chapter 17, in verse six, the Bible says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

• Chapter 18 verse one, "In those days, there was no king in Israel."
• 19 verse one, "And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel."
• And then the final verse in the Book of Judges, chapter 21, verse 25, "In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

I mean, it's like neon lights in the Book of Judges that is just one word, permissiveness, permissiveness, do your own thing. I mean, if it feels good, do it. I mean, after all, no one is in control. And this book, folks, it is a brutal, ugly account of people doing what was right in their own eyes.

But notice they didn't say what was wrong in their eyes because they always justify what they did. Thus, it was always right in their eyes. I mean, wrong is right because I say it's right. And today, folks, we see the same thing in our culture. We see the same thing in our nation. No shame, no regret, no sorrow. Why? Because people rationalize what they do in such a way that what they do is right in the eyes of those responsible. I mean, the Book of Judges is like today's news, and as you read through it, you start to ask yourself this question, how could they?

I mean, after all that Joshua, we learned this on the episode on the Book of Joshua, how could the Jews, I mean, after all that Joshua had instructed them just before he died? In fact, here's what Joshua said in Joshua 23, verse five, "And the Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight so you shall possess their land as the Lord your God promised you."

I mean, they're in the land of Canaan now, it's theirs. Every tribe has been given a section of land. And listen, even though they had conquered the army of the Canaanites, there were these little snipers, these idol worshiping Canaanites, little pockets of people, and they gave the Jews fits. And Joshua says, "Listen, you've got to get these people out of the land because the land belongs to you," verse six of Joshua, 23. "Therefore," Joshua said, "be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest you go among the nations. These who remain among you, you shall not make mention of their gods."

I mean, how narrow can you get, huh? But you see that's God's way of cleaning up his people. God says, "I don't want you to talk about their gods. I don't want you to talk about Baal or Astarte or Molech. Don't talk about the gods or the godless practices."

Verse seven says, "You shall not mention the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them. You shall not serve them nor bow down to them. But you shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day for the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations. But as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day." And then in verse 11, "Therefore, take careful heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God." In other words, what he's saying is, don't sit in your house that you didn't build and say, "Well, everything's going to be all right." Joshua is saying, "Stay at it until you get the land completely cleaned up."

The Erosion Begins

Well, let's look at the Book of Judges. The first section of the Book of Judges, we find the reasons or the causes for the failure. That's really from chapter one, verse one to chapter three, verse six. And then as you go throughout the Book of Judges, you'll see seven cycles of the same miserable failure. They're like on a merry-go-round, and it winds up with Samson and the Philistines and he's the last one. And then you look back and you see the curses that come from the failure to drive the people out. And I'm telling you, when we finish this study, you'll say, "I can't believe how relevant this book of the Bible is." It begins with disobedience and it closes with disgrace.

I mean, how in the world, how could they fall into failure after the Book of Joshua? I mean, was it quick? No, no, it was like erosion, folks. With erosion, it's not noisy. It's silent. I remember, it must've been about 30, 35 years ago when I was a reading about up in Lake Erie where they had a large section that just fell into the lake of land that had eroded over the years. And through the process of erosion, at one time, one day it just went into the lake. But it just didn't happen overnight. Year after year after year, a little bit, a little bit, you couldn't notice it until finally all of it went into the lake.

Let me show you how it happened in the Book of Judges. Judges chapter one, verse one, "Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord saying, 'Who shall be first to go up against the Canaanites and to fight against them?' And the Lord said, 'Judah shall go. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.'"

Now watch the erosion. Verse 19, "So the Lord was with Judah and they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland because they had chariots of iron." I mean, listen, folks, isn't God bigger than chariots of iron? Yes, that is unless you focus on the chariots of iron.

• Verse 21, "But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. So the Jebusites dwell in with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day."
• Verse 27, "However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and it's villages."

But you know what they said, the one group said, "Well, we'll make them work for us. We'll make them forced labor people. I mean, after all, own the land, we have the land."

• Verse 28, "And it came to pass when Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out."
• Verse 29, "Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites."
• Verse 30, "Nor did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites."
• Verse 31, "Nor did Asher drive out the Canaanites."
• Verse 33, "Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants."

Wait, I mean, that's all the tribes. But now watch because the tail begins to wag the dog. Verse 34, "And the Amorites forced the children of Dan," wait, those are Israelites, "the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains for they would not allow them to come down to the valley." I mean, it begins to take its toll.

Three Reasons for Failure

I mean, why did they fail?

Answer number one, partial obedience, which, by the way, is a nice way of saying downright disobedience. They took some of them out, but God said, "Take all of them out." I mean, multiple times in the Book of Joshua, God says, "Drive them all out." Well, what happened? Well, Israel begins to worship their gods.

Chapter three, verse one, "Now these are the nations which the Lord left that he might test Israel." That is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan. "And they were left that he might," verse four, "test Israel by them to know whether they would obey." Verse five, "Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites." I mean, after all, they've got iron chariots so let's just...

Well, Judges chapter three, verse six, "And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons," now watch this, "and they served their gods." There it is. Why did they fail?

1. Partial obedience. They didn't drive them out.
2. Idolatry.
3. Intermarriage. When you marry the Canaanite, I mean, she's got some gods. What's it going to hurt? Just to have a little idol over here, who cares? Come on. Do you see the erosion? Little by little and all of this set in motion a cycle, and it is so incredibly relevant to your life and my life today.

The Five-Point Cycle

In chapter two, you begin to see the five factors that make up this cycle. Chapter two, verse 11, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them. And they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Astarte."

First factor, disobedience. I mean, God said, "Put them out," and they didn't.

Look at the second factor, verse 14, "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel so he delivered them into the hand of the plunderers who despoiled them or plundered them and he sold them into their hands of their enemies all around so that they could no longer stand before their enemies."

Second factor, bondage. Don't think for one moment, "Well, I'm going to do it my own way and that's going to get me freedom." No, it won't. It'll get you bondage every time.

Third factor, misery. Verse 15, "Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn to them and they were greatly distressed or depressed."

I mean, where's the happy lifestyle? The Bible says, "The way of the transgressor is hard." And here you see disobedience leads to bondage and bondage resulting in misery. The Lord says, "Walk with me." "But Lord, I say this." And the Lord says, "Walk with me." "But Lord, you don't understand." " I understand and I understand well. Walk with me." "But I can't." Listen, the way of the transgressor is hard. And I want to tell you, when you live like that, when God tells you to do something and you don't, you'll be in your bed at night and you'll toss and turn with inner turmoil. There won't be anything, no peace at all while you talk about grace.

Verse 16, "Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges and delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them yet they would not listen to their judges." In verse 18, "And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge." That leads to factor number four and that's deliverance and rest.

And when God brought deliverance and rest to Israel in these cycles, that it would last for as long as 80 years or as short as 20 years. I mean, can you believe it? I mean, they didn't listen to the judges. The Bible says, "They played the harlot with other gods," and that's a very vivid Hebrew term. God would deliver them, and then in verse number 19 the Bible says, "And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers." And there you've got it, disobedience leads to bondage, leads to misery, leads to deliverance and rest and compromise.

And here it is, again, disobedience, misery, deliverance, compromise, disobedience, misery, deliverance. Let me say two things. Number one, doesn't this make you sick to your stomach, I mean, just how they turned their back on God and how they just went through these cycles? But it says a second thing, and that is, how much like us, folks, nothing has changed.

I mean, what happens to a society that buys into this style of life? Well, that's all illustrated in chapters three to 16. But I want you to see the ultimate consequence, the ultimate consequences, and you see that in chapter 17, and you see the depths of disgrace that they plummeted to as it ran its course for these 300 years. You see how they think so differently, and at the end of Samson's life. I mean, he's gone. Chapter 16 closes his life. And then you see three disgraceful lifestyles that come to pass.

The Depths of Depravity

First: Idolatry (Chapter 17)

And the first one is idolatry. In chapter 17, there's an interesting story. I mean, probably one you've not read lately, and it revolves around a man by the name of Micah. Now, it's not the prophet Micah. But this guy Micah took 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother and he then told her, he said, "Well, I took it." And she had bought into this permissive lifestyle and she said, "Oh, may you be blessed by the Lord, my son." You see that in chapter 17, verse three.

So when he had returned, speaking of Micah, the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, remember, she had bought into this whole permissive system. His mother said, "I had wholly dedicated this silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a molded image. Now, therefore, I return it to you." Thus, he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith and he made it into a carved image and a molded image. And they were in the house of Micah. The man, Micah, verse five, had a shrine. I mean, Micah's got this shrine now in his own room. I mean, everybody's got idols.

Well, along comes a priest from the Tribe of Levi, and get this, he compromises. Verse number nine, "And Micah said to the priest, 'Where do you come from?' So he said to them, 'I'm a Levite from Bethlehem and Judah and I'm on my way to find a place to stay.'"

Folks, listen, a priest's job was to set people apart in their walk with God, and this priest should have confronted Micah, but he didn't. Verse 10, "Micah said to him, 'Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me and I will give you 10 shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.' So the Levite went in. Then the Levite was contented dwell with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons to him. So Micah consecrated the Levite and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah." And not once does the priest say, "Micah, that idol has got to go."

Well, when you get to chapter 18, a group of men rip off this idol and the priest goes with the men and the priest changes his color to fit in with that scheme. I mean, after all, he's going to make more money, and it all results in murder. And it sets in motion the process of revenge.

Second: Immorality (Chapter 19)

And I want to tell you, folks, you haven't seen depravity until you read the 19th chapter. I mean, chapter 19 is the lowest level of depravity I believe in the entire Old Testament. And it revolves around a man who had a concubine and he goes and gets her, and on his way back, he stays the night in the city. But there's no place to stay so he stays there at a park. Well, an older man comes along and says, "Why don't you stay with me?" And they do.

Well, the group of homosexuals gather outside and they want to commit sodomy with the man inside, and they're rejected. And verse 22 says, "As they were enjoined themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, 'Bring out the man who came to your house that we may know him carnally.' But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, 'No, my brethren, I beg you, do not act so wickedly seen this man has come into my house and do not commit this outrage.'"

And if you can believe this verse 24, "'Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's concubine. Let me bring them out to you. Humble them and do with them as you please. But to this man, do no such vile thing.'" I mean, how in the world? How could this happen? I'll tell you why, because there was no king and every man did what he thought was right in his own eyes.

Well, they wouldn't listen, and verse 25 says, "But the men would not heed them so the man took his concubine and brought her out to them and they knew her and abused her all night until morning. And when the day began to break, they let her go. Then the woman came as the day was dawning and fell down at the door of the man's house where the master was till it was light." I mean, she was dead.

"When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was this concubine fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. And he said to her, 'Get up and let us be going.' But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto his donkey and the man got up and went to his place."

Now watch this. "When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and divided her into 12 pieces limb by limb and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. And so it was that all who saw it said no such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day."

Third: Anarchy (Chapters 20-21)

And folks, anarchy breaks out. Idolatry, folks, listen, idolatry leads to immorality, resulting in anarchy, and the people take up revenge and thousands are killed.

Three Concluding Statements

As I come to a close on this episode on the Book of Joshua, let me give you three concluding statements. And I want to plead with you to do something. You may be listening to this in the car or while you're working out or walking, but I want to encourage you to go back and to listen to this again, sitting down with your Bible. And I want you to write down these three concluding statements, because you're going to see here the cycle or the stair-step down in a broken and depraved world. Now, let me give them to you.

Here's the first one. Number one, depravity results in permissiveness when righteousness is ignored. Let me repeat it. Depravity results in permissiveness when righteousness is ignored. We see it in the Book of Judges and we see it in our own country today. Listen, you ignore righteousness long enough and depravity will breed the illegitimate child of permissiveness every time, and it winds up to where no, no longer means no and wrong is no longer wrong.

Now, follow my thought. Here's a second one. Permissiveness leads to rationalization when holiness is ignored. Permissiveness leads to rationalization when holiness is ignored. You see, folks, in our day, it's no longer vogue to refer to something as bad or sinful or wrong. I mean, if you do, you're going to be marked as someone that's ignorant or ill informed.

And that leads to the third, rationalization encourages rebellion when repentance is ignored. Now, let me, let me read the progress, how this progresses again.

1. First of all, depravity results in permissiveness when righteousness is ignored.
2. Permissiveness leads to rationalization when holiness is ignored
3. Rationalization encourages rebellion when repentance is ignored

And that winds up in open rebellion and it's happening now. I mean, if it doesn't feel good, then don't do it. Listen, you talk like this and you're going to be considered a prophet of doom. But you see, folks, the issue is this, nations don't change, people change. Sow a thought. Reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap your character. And sow your character, and reap your destiny.

The last thing I want to say to you is this, I plead with you, be different, be distinctive. I mean, let's get a little class back into righteousness.

Corby LaCroix: Thanks once again for joining us on this edition of the Bible for Life Podcast. It's been a joy being with you today. Thanks for being along for the ride as we've looked at the Book of Judges and seen just how relevant it is to our lives here today. We'll catch you next time. But until then, remember, for the issues of life for the rest of your life, it's the Bible for Life.