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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong

The Sin That Cost Canaan

I must say that if Norman had not reminded me that I'm leaving soon, I probably would have forgotten.

But yes, I have been here since January, for those of you who know the story, under some unusual circumstances.

And if you don't know me since then, you would probably think that there's nothing wrong with me, but well, at 1 point, there was an awfully lot wrong with me.

And I was here for rehab for several months after a spinal cord injury, which left me paralyzed from the neck down for a few days.

And to this day, I'm still not fully recovered, but functional enough to be with you.

And if you care to hear the full story, I've shared it here at Avant Hope before.

I just had to slip that advertisement in there.

I wanted to say that because I have to confess that I have some issues.

But to make myself feel a little better, my guess is that 100% of you in this room will be able to relate.

So although I share this study with you for my own personal benefit, I believe that the Lord will bless those here as well.

So the title of the message is The Sin That Cost Canaan.

So before we get into it, let's bow our heads for prayer.

Father in heaven, we are weak and sinful creatures.

But yet, Lord, you have called us to an impossibly high standard, and that is to be like Jesus.

And Lord, we long to reach that high mark, but we know that we are unable to do it.

And so may you encourage us, may you convict us, and may you transform us through the words from your Holy Bible today.

The children of Israel were clearly the identified chosen people of God.

There were prophecies throughout the Old Testament that said so.

Even their 400 years of captivity in Egypt was foretold.

And their deliverance from Egypt was nothing short of miracle after miracle after miracle.

And so the children of Israel came to the borders of the Canaan land, and they could almost, imagining myself being there with them, almost taste the milk and honey flowing from that land.

They could smell the fragrance of the promised land that God had foretold.

Here we are standing on the threshold of eternity once more.

With heavenly Canaan, the scent of the heavenly land wafting to our nostrils, figuratively speaking.

And the question is, are we going to go in and possess the land?

God has led us out of darkness, He has led us out of spiritual Egypt of unbelief to a relationship to Him.

Sometimes we have gone through wilderness experiences where we had to wait, where we had to trust.

But here we are at the borders of Canaan, and the question is, are we going to go in?

And so today I want to ask this question.

And I want to study what happened to the ancient Israelites that prevented them from going in so that we will not repeat the same mistake.

That's an important study, don't you think?

But you know the story does not begin and end right there on the borders of Canaan.

The issue that prevented Israel from entering the land began a long time before.

Turn your Bibles with me to the book of Exodus chapter 15.

While you're turning there, you remember Exodus chapter 15 is the famous chapter of the song that was sung by the children of Israel after the defeat of the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

The Lord miraculously had led them not only with 10 plagues in Egypt, He barricaded Egypt from reaching them until the Red Sea, allowed them to pass through the Red Sea that was split in 2, and then drowned the entire Egyptian army.

I would say that was pretty significant miracle.

Exodus chapter 15, they sing the song of Moses and they were Miriam was leading them but that's not where the chapter ends.

Exodus 15 verse 23, and when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Mara, for they were bitter.

Therefore the name of it was called Mara.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them." Immediately on the heels of this miraculous deliverance out of Egypt through the Red Sea, Israel begins to murmur, God, you expect us to drink this bitter water?

Instantly, they have forgotten the promises of God, the deliverance of God, the power of God, And they were more interested in their thirst.

God knew they had need for water, doesn't he?

But in Exodus 16 verse 2, And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the children of Israel said to them, Word to God, we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full for you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Seemingly they actually forgot that they were actually slaves in Egypt.

Yeah, right, as slaves they were sitting by the flesh pots, eating bread to their full, whatever.

They were thinking of the here and the now, and they complained and they murmured.

God not only led them out of Egypt with miracles and signs, He split the Red Sea, He killed the Egyptian army, He provided sweet water when they had no water, and now they say, oh, I'm hungry.

And of course God provided manna for them.

Exodus 17, verse 3 says, And the people thirsted there for water.

And the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto these people?

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod.

Wherewith thou smotest a river, take in thy hand and go.

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb and there shall smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

So God provided sweet water, cut down a tree, throw it in the water, miraculous provision.

God rained manna down from heaven so they would have food.

And then they get thirsty again and now they complain again.

You would think that children of Israel would get the idea by now.

You'd think they would get the point, but they don't.

If you're there let me hear you say Amen.

It says, And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting.

And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our soul is dried away.

There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes.

They complained that they were eating angel food.

Sometimes I wish God would give us some manna, but they rather have the food of Egypt And they complained again.

But God, he gave them a different solution this time.

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The Sin That Cost Canaan

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